High Tea with Harriet is a family-owned, artisanal tea company based in Melbourne. Launched in 2013 from Amy McCaffery’s kitchen, High Tea with Harriet has expanded rapidly, and now produces over 20 varieties, including black, green, white, herbal, fruit and chai teas.
Tell us about why you started High Tea with Harriet.
Marcus and I are a husband and wife tea team, having launched our company back in 2013, after a full year and a half of design and development of our creative vision and premium range of teas. Both Marcus and I have come from careers in the Arts – I spent a decade working as a writer and crew member in Television Studio Productions for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Network Ten. I left this career to launch our business. Marcus is an actor and set designer and currently maintains his full time position as a Manager at a Performing Arts Centre, as well as his work for our tea company. It’s quite the juggle! We also had our first child three months after launching the business so we’ve been quite busy! We are very proud that we have such a wonderful business that is ours, that we are super passionate about and where we can use our creative skills every day.
My love of tea began early on with much-loved visits to my grandmother. She just loved tea and at her house, tea and biscuits were always part of the experience of getting together. She had a beautiful old tea caddy that sat on her kitchen shelf and housed her special tea of the day. I would always look at the caddy with longing as I knew it meant an afternoon of tea and bikkies and chats out in the sunshine. It was these special moments that made me want to create my own a range of teas that was really special – delicious, high quality teas in hand-designed, classically elegant packaging. The ritual of tea is such a lovely thing and creates moments to remember.
Tell us about High Tea with Harriet. What makes your teas stand out in the market?
We saw a lovely niche in the tea market for classically elegant tea and tea experiences, inspired by English tea of the 1800s. We felt that there was a lot of emphasis of Asian inspired and health inspired teas but we wanted to create a tea company and range of teas that hark back to the old world of fancy English or Parisian afternoon teas, where tea was served in the finest bone china and hosts would always have the best cup of tea available. There is such a strong culture of classic and vintage inspired High Teas and Afternoon Teas but not a lot of options are available for high quality, interesting teas to accompany these lovely occasions. We really feel that we help fill that gap and give tea lovers something really special, a celebratory tea experience whether you are enjoying a High Tea or just your afternoon cup of tea whilst in your pyjamas at home.
We have seen a consistent lack of quality in the teas that are available in the Australian tea market, with a few exceptions. Our teas are of the highest quality grade and freshness – and the difference is so noticeable – in the body and taste of the teas. Customers so often say to us that they didn’t know tea could taste so good and that now we’ve ruined supermarket tea for them because they can no longer accept less than the best.
We provide brewing help and training to cafes, tailored tea menus and promotional material to help cafes sell more tea and we pride ourselves on a personal touch with our customer service.
We also have a large variety of beautiful handmade tea accessories and High Tea china as well as a large range of delightful gift hampers, perfect for the tea lover in your personal (or professional) life.
What frustrated you about Australian tea prior to your arrival on the scene?
We were so frustrated by the lack quality of tea being served in cafes and we really wanted to improve the quality of both tea and tea service, across all fields – by providing tea drinkers a wonderful, high quality tea option both for both at home and when dining out. Teabags are really not acceptable being served at a cafe or restaurant. We liken serving teabags to serving customers instant coffee. It just wouldn’t be done for coffee and it shouldn’t for tea. Tea is often overlooked and it’s a real shame for both tea drinkers and for cafe owners, who are missing out on extra income that they might see if they improved their tea offerings and put more emphasis on promotion of tea.
We have had several customers doubling or tripling their tea sales by offering higher quality, more interesting teas. Marcus and I would frequently go out for breakfast and be either served a teabag – or if the cafe did have loose leaf, it was low quality, not at all fresh and served incorrectly – where it came to the table either way too strong and bitter or weak like tea-flavoured water. Most tea drinkers could attest to having this experience! It just doesn’t need to be that way and we hope to change the culture of cafe tea and tea in general, one cafe at a time.
What does your success at the Australian International Tea Expo mean for the company?
We are so proud of our success in this year’s Golden Leaf Awards. It’s a real recognition and validation of the hard work that we have put in over the past six years, in ensuring that our teas are of the best quality and taste. Our wins across four categories, in both black and green tea, mean that we can have a lovely new avenue to reach potential tea drinkers, cafes and retailers. We are really hoping to encourage tea drinkers to try new teas and these awards give us a terrific stamp of approval – from the best tea organisation in Australia (the Australian Tea Masters). Twenty-five international judges say our teas are delicious so we think that’s the best kind of review! We hope that this recognition opens some doors around Australia as well as internationally.
What are the plans for the business moving forward?
We are really hoping to grow the business a lot within the next year and we aim to reach a greater number of tea lovers and cafe owners across Australia, into New Zealand and further abroad. We hope to have our teas served at high level High Tea establishments and at social events across Australia. We want be an easily recognisable brand within the tea market, synonymous with quality, taste and elegance.
We also hope to introduce some new teas next year, including a Mum’s Tea in time for Mother’s Day. We aim to introduce a new retail range of vintage-style tea caddies as well.
Where are your teas available and are you looking to expand your availability?
We are definitely hoping to expand our availability for our teas. There has been a large focus in our company on wholesale to cafes and retailers. We are now hoping to expand that wholesale reach through distribution partnerships. We very much want to increase access to our retail range as well. We currently have our retail available at a number of gift stores around Australia and customers can easily buy through our website.
You can even choose a tea based on your mood and taste! Try it out.
We have also been invited to be a part of Amazon Australia’s launch of their new grocery marketplace, which is very exciting. Our products are now available to purchase on amazon.com.au
Describe a typical work day for you.
Working in this tea company is always exciting and never the same. Our days can be really varied between filling orders, keeping up with customers, social media, events and developing partnerships. We all have to be prepared for things to be really busy and change even througout the day, depending on what’s happening. It’s never dull (well, the accounting is perhaps).
What advice do you have for those wanting to start a business?
Do something that you are really passionate about, you have to be passionate about your business in order to be successful and to help you through the tougher stages in the process. To believe in your business is the key to its success. An enormous amount of energy and tenacity also helps!
Onya Magazine has a High Tea with Harriet hamper, worth $70, to giveaway. The gorgeous hamper features:
For your chance to win the High Tea with Harriet hamper, valued at $70, simply email info@onyamagazine.com with the subject line ‘Harriet’ and your postal address. The winner will be selected at random on Friday the 14th of December 2018 and notified via email.
To find out more about High Tea with Harriet, please visit their website here.
