Did you know, that there are approximately 3000 different types of tea? Or that Panda tea is the one of the most expensive teas, priced at around $200 dollars a cup, the tea is considered special because it has been fertilised with panda poo.
We stumbled across these Laneway Learning classes online and thought it would be fun to try out this tea class. Luckily we registered quickly because the event had already sold out the next time we checked, there was even a waiting list ready for any cancellations. For something that only officially started a couple of months ago, these “cheap, fun classes in anything and everything” proved to be pretty popular.
Laneway Learning classes take place at this cute cafe called The Little Mule in Somerset Place. When you walk into The Little Mule, you’ll find it has a character of its own; it gave off this casual rustic feel with the exposed brickwork, different sized vintage suitcases stacked on top of each other, they have one of the most comfiest couches you’ve ever sat on, there’s random bicycle parts hanging above and the full bicycles on display (apart from the coffee and simple menu The Little Mule also sells bikes), you’ll also notice an array of framed artwork on the walls and not to mention the chilled island-y beach-y music playing softly in the background.
The tea class was scheduled to start at 6:30pm so it had already gotten dark by then. Walking around looking for Somerset Place wasn’t too hard since it was just off Elizabeth St, it was finding The Little Mule that was a little harder. At the time, Somerset place was just this dimmed laneway with a warm light beaming out to greet you at the end. The entrance of The Little Mule was this rolled up garage door, kinda felt somewhat exclusive walking into this hidden place at night.
We waited for everyone to turn up, but unfortunately some people didn’t manage to show up for the class, so we were a bit pressed for time for but we still managed to get through most of the things organised. The teacher of this Tea class was Kim Hay. Starting off with a couple of handouts, we began with a brief history of tea, stories of where it could’ve originated from and the health benefits of tea. Soon after we tried the the tea boiling infront of us in a glass teapot, it was white tea- Pai Mu Tan (aka White Peony or White Hairy Monkey Tea). It had such a soothing, delicate light flavour compared to the teas we tried later on like the ‘Russian Caravan’ black tea.
Following the white tea, we tried a couple different types of green teas, one of them being ‘Blooming Tea’, this was prepared by a handful of tea leaves, hand stitched with a flower embedded inside, so when boiling water was added, the flower would blossom. We also tried ‘Buddha’s Tears’ and Macha- which was a Japanese powdered green tea that was prepared by being whisked with boiling water. Kim also prepared her own secret recipe of Chai that was a blend of different spices and ginger, it was a nice variation to the other teas we tried.
In the end, we were really glad we attended the class, although a little rushed, it was really chilled and fun. The people there were super friendly and happy to answer everyone’s questions. We’ll definitely keep a lookout for other food related classes MCH can go to in the future!
Check out laneway learning & their other classes!
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(03) 9670 4904
19 Somerset Place,
Melbourne VIC 3000
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