Cigarettes, coffee, wine & tea... and a challenge for you and me!

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First of all let me say this is an entirely selfish plight, not because I have a vested interest but because I want to be able to go out to a cafe or restaurant and order good tea!

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Believe it or not I do like good coffee... I just love good flavours. Fortunately now in New Zealand it's not hard to get good coffee, we've had such a big cultural trend towards good coffee for so long now you would be hard pressed to find a cafe that serves you filter coffee or heaven forbid instant coffee, it's straight from the espresso machine bringing out all that crema goodness.

The same has happened with wine here in NZ and elsewhere, you can be pretty sure if you order a glass of wine at a restaurant you won't be getting a pour from the cardboard cask. Your average bloggs knows stuff about wine nowadays that 20 years ago he would have thought was just bull, "It's red white or sparkling, don't confuse me with your Terroir?!"

That of course brings me to Tea. While there are now a growing number of cafes & restaurants starting to serve loose leaf tea, the majority are serving the equivalent of instant coffee or cask wine. To us tea lovers it's just baffling as to why they still think that's ok!? Sure they might argue that they don't get enough sales of tea to move to that expensive stuff. Well hello look at what you're serving, of course you're not selling much. Get the good stuff, make a feature of it... put a fresh tasting pot on the counter for customers to try a small free sample cup... pretty soon you'll find it's selling bloody well. Don't assume 'us tea lovers' are an annoying few... we are many and fast spreading. It's only a matter of time in a country of foodies before we are truly demanding something better than a soggy piece of paper in a leaky metal pot.

So why did I mention cigarettes in the title... I don't smoke and never have but I know how they became a cultural phenomenon. Media. All the movie stars smoking away in the old flicks just made every kid want to look that cool. Starbucks did it for coffee, think of all the romantic comedies set in New York where they stop in to pick up their takeout coffee. With cigarettes it was a badge, you're choice of cigarette said something about who you were... a Marlborough Man? Choosing which variation of coffee in the queue at Starbucks had the same effect.

The one beverage that has yet to see this cultural renaissance is the humble cup, Tea. It's on the brink of happening. All that's needed is for media creatives to give it that little push. I'm not talking advertising I'm talking social media through to creative media. If you're writing a book or making a movie, even a music video... set the trend and revolve your scenes around proper tea instead of the cliched wine or coffee. Tea is the thinking mans drink and the woman's best friend. Great dialogue happens over a pot of tea.

The whole 'meet up for a coffee' is so last year and to be honest doesn't add as much depth to story or character (unless of course you want that). I'm not saying if you drink coffee you're boring, but the perceived addiction to coffee is of a quicker more instant fix and by all means has it's place. But the addiction to tea is that of quenching a deep thirst, not only physically but mentally, emotionally & spiritually. That might sound exaggerated but there are libraries of books & various studies from present day going back thousands of years trying to understand the essence of tea and it's addiction! In fact the word doesn't do it justice, call it a longing.

From Social Media to Creative Media: because so many of you using social media are exactly those driving creative media, whether it's writers, directors, musicians, artists, creative entrepreneurs... the fact you are using Social Media says you are those who want to communicate with the world, who want to be a part of a changing culture, who want to be a part of driving new cultural trends. You are the ones who truly make it happen.

MY CHALLENGE: I hope the above gives you some idea of where tea is heading and why it's going to be so big. I challenge you all to give tea the push it needs, lets see if we can make tea trend... not just on Twitter but on the street, on the menu, on your mind.

The humble cup has perhaps been a little too humble and stood back wisely watching the others jump into the spotlight... but her time has come! She's an immortal goddess, Camelia Sinensis, Thea. Girls she's you're best friend, guys you'll fall in love! She goes by many names but she's decided to join us mere mortals for a damn good cuppa! :)