Tomtelife.com founder and chief taster, Paul Bennetts, is bringing together a community of tea lovers. His mantra is that “Our best thinking and creativity come when drinking tea”. Tomte scours the globe to discover great teas created by small “artists of the leaf”. We asked him to share his top five Sydney tea experiences with us. As Paul says, “slow down, disconnect, drink tea.”

Three Blue Ducks – 141-143 Macpherson St, Bronte | threeblueducks.com
It’s not often that you come across a place that brews a yerba maté tea. Yerba maté tea, often called the ‘fat-flushing’ tea, is the green tea of South America. People obsess over it for two purposes. Firstly, it contains the stimulants theobromine (dark chocolate’s key kicker- great for marathon concentration sessions) and theophylline (the power of green tea). Secondly, to speed digestion. If you’re having a cheat meal or a day off a strict diet – use yerba maté to limit the damage.

Bread & Circus – 21 Fountain St, Alexandria | breadandcircus.com.au
The path of a tea drinker is usually this – breakfast blend with milk and sugar, green tea, then inevitably after exploring the broad types of tea they gravitate towards the world of oolong. Oolong is simple – add no milk and sugar (good for weight control), brew with boiling water, and look forward to multiple infusions from the one serving of leaf. I call it the world of oolong because you will always find new varieties to travel to with oolongs. Bread & Circus has five oolongs to try. I suggest sharing with a friend the morning dew white (gentle) and the big red robe (powerful). Tip: when the pot is brought to the table, allow it to brew for ~1min then empty all the tea into 2 cups, otherwise the leaves will over-steep and become bitter in the pot (rookie error).

OVViO Organic Health & Lifestyle Store – 2 Heeley St, Paddington | ovvioorganics.com.au
I love the Martha Stewart homeliness to Anthia’s OVViO. Go there and slow down, disconnect and drink tea. I quite enjoy warming my hands with a cup of ginger root tea. Anthia gets it and doesn’t add any artificial flavours or fragrances to her blends. I’m always shocked when I look at the back of a packet of tea and see “flavour” listed as the last ingredient. Why do clever marketers insist on combining fresh leaves with sweeteners and artificial flavours to create all kinds of ‘lolly’ teas?

Reuben Hills – 61 Albion St, Surry Hills | reubenhills.com.au
Arrive for the salted cameral milk shake, stay for the high altitude green tea. High altitude means it was grown on a shaded mountainside over a kilometre above sea level – the air is thin up there. For the best green tea brew, remind the barista to fill 1/3 of your teapot with cold water, then add the boiling water on top.

Allpress Roastery Cafe – 58 Epsom Road, Rosebery | allpressespresso.com.au
It’s surprising to receive a good brew of tea turning up to a bean roaster, but I love how they show how simple herbal teas should be to make yourself. At Allpress, your peppermint tea is simply a freshly picked bunch of mint (leaves, stalk and all) with fresh water – as it should be. Peppermint has muscle relaxing properties which makes it perfect to have when you are looking to unwind.  

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