Tea wine? Yes please!

Five years, 155 stallholders and 25,000 tea lovers later, the Sydney Tea Festival is back at Carriageworks.

Festival-goers will again be spoilt with a range of world-class loose-leaf teas, and a refreshed educational program.

New festival features in 2018 include The Tasting Table, an area where tea lovers can participate in small group masterclasses with tea purveyors, and a degustation dinner with tea pairings held at Automata in Chippendale, in honour of the festival’s 5th birthday.

Launching at the tea festival is the first ever tea wine, created by The Rabbit Hole Organic Tea Bar and a South Australian winery. Festival-goers will be able to taste four different blends and have their say on which ones make the final product range, aimed to be released in 2019.

Other highlights include tea cocktails by Archie Rose Distilling Co., a cheese and tea pairing workshop hosted by The Artisan Cheese Room, and expert blending sessions led by the likes of Ovvio Tea founder, author and naturopath, Anthia Koullouros, and Tea Atelier, Liliana Algorry.

The festival offers tea lovers plenty to explore through a marketplace of more than 70 stallholders.

Loose-leaf tea is the hero of the festival, with the market space showcasing creative and quality focussed tea brands that place a strong emphasis on leafy grade, specialty tea including rare, pure teas; exotic blends; high-altitude teas from abroad; chai teas made from family recipes; Japanese matcha; Australian grown teas; and healthy herbal tisanes.

Visitors can taste their way through the festival’s tea stalls with their porcelain tasting cup in hand (included with every adult entry ticket), and relax in the festival’s Brew Lounge.

For something hands-on, tea lovers can hit the DIY Tea Blending Station to create a bespoke brew from a range of teas and dried herbs, flowers, fruits and spices, supplied by Austral Herbs.

Festival-goers can also indulge in an array of sweet treats on offer from pastries, doughnuts, macarons and marshmallows, to tea-flavoured soft serve ice cream, as well as savoury options from food stalls and trucks.

Bringing a celebratory look to this year’s event, Tea Festivals Australia has collaborated with Sydney artist Elliott Routledge (aka Numskull). Routledge has created a special brand design to commemorate the festival’s milestone birthday and his artwork will feature on festival cups, tea tote bags and at the venue.

The Sydney Tea Festival is on Sunday 19 August at Carriageworks, Eveleigh.