At the Tea Table with Sarah Vaughan of Proper Cuppa

Her love for flavours and aromas led Sarah Vaughan to a career in the tea industry and eventually a tea business of her own. After working at a tea company on the west coast, Sarah moved to Canada’s capital. She missed being more involved with tea so she started her small tea business, Proper Cuppa, with her husband. As a certified tea sommelier Sarah created their initial product offering, a guided tea blending kit, to encourage other tea drinkers to explore tea blending. To provide education on her favourite beverage, she teaches an introduction to tea course online. At the tea table Sarah shared how she became the tea lover in a coffee family, tea blending failures, where tea will be in five years and more.

The kettle is on and I can hear it about to sing. What tea are you going to steep for us today?

For you, Lu Ann, I decided to blend up a pot of Proper Cuppa’s Royal Afternoon tea. It has a base of smooth Keemun black tea, Assam and Ceylon for strength, and just a little bit of jasmine green tea to provide some pizzaz.

As with all of our tea recipes, I encourage everyone to taste the blend and then adjust to their personal taste. Knowing a little bit about your taste, my guess is that you might increase the proportions of Assam and Ceylon the next time you make this blend — what do you think?

I really like the way the jasmine works with the stronger black teas in this blend… mmm!

You guessed right! Thank you for this wonderful steep. How did your relationship with tea begin and eventually evolve into Proper Cuppa?

I actually grew up in a coffee family, so I’m definitely the black sheep with my tea fascination. I guess tea really implanted itself when I was in first year university at Herstmonceux Castle in England. Most weekends we went on ‘field study trips’ to different historical or cultural sites around the UK.

My roommate Lindsay and I would have cream tea – afternoon tea and scones with clotted cream and jam – every chance we could get. After that, tea just became a habit – through school and work I always had a pot or cup nearby.

I enrolled in the Tea & Herbal Association of Canada’s Tea Sommelier program around the same time that I started working at Murchie’s Tea & Coffee in BC, so I had a period of time being completely immersed in tea. It was amazing! I learned so much about the tea industry, different people’s palates and preferences, and – of course – how to blend tea.

My husband and I recently relocated to Ottawa and I was really missing having tea as such a big part of my life… so we started Proper Cuppa!

One of your goals is to make tea blending fun and approachable for all tea lovers! Can you share a moment when you were experimenting with a blend that did not pass your taste test?

Oh my gosh, there are so many!

I had a big flop when I tried to combine black tea and rooibos. And every time I’ve tried to make a chocolate tea it’s been a disappointment.

I think I’ve been pretty inventive, even trying to mix tea with hot chocolate powder (not good. It works if you make hot chocolate and then add a little bit of tea, like peppermint or a really spicy chai, but the other way around ends up being pretty dishwater-y).

Creating a chocolate tea that tastes as good as it smells – that’s probably my holy grail. Eventually maybe it will come together. I’ll let you know, haha!

I think the failures that are the hardest to take are the ones where I have a very specific flavour profile in mind before I start out.

It’s like I can taste it in my head and then I just can’t make it happen in the cup with the ingredients I have available — it’s like, just try one more combination, then one more, one more, one more and they keep getting muddier and muddier until I have to give up 🙁

Chocolate teas can be a hit or a miss for me as well! What are some of your favourite ingredients to work with when blending teas?

Ooh fun question! Well, if you split them into herbs, flowers, spices and fruits, I would have to say that my favourite category is flowers.

I love how much flavour (well, aroma!) that flower petals such as rose, lavender or jasmine can bring to a tea. I know flowers aren’t for everyone, but I find them really versatile and fun to use, whether you’re just adding a subtle note or allowing the floral to really dominate the cup. Plus, they’re pretty!

I was going to ask earlier – are you team lavender or team ‘lavender tastes like soap’?

I’m team lavender if it doesn’t overpower a blend. In fact, I have enjoyed experimenting with it more thanks to your Tea Blending Kit! What has it been like starting a small tea business during a pandemic?

As someone who considers herself a natural introvert, I find it hard to be a great salesperson and hustler. I have so much respect for people who can do this, and try to push myself all the time!

But in some ways, one benefit of the pandemic for me has been in making people so much more comfortable with digital interactions. It has made it a lot easier for me to get over some of my fears and get out there.

My Introduction to Tea course on Udemy has had many more students since March 2020, and we really felt comfortable launching Proper Cuppa as a purely eCommerce business.

And back at you – you’re celebrating 10 years of your blog. That’s amazing! How do you find the energy / motivation / stick-to-it-ness to keep it moving forward after all this time?

Thank you so much Sarah! Creating content for something I’m very passionate about helps a lot. There’s always something new to learn about tea which makes it a bit easier, too.

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Speed Round:

Black, Green, Yellow, White, Oolong or Puerh?
Black

Hot, Iced or Cold?
Hot

Teapot, Infuser or Gaiwan?
Mug!

Straight, Sweetened or Latte?
Latte

Cheese or Chocolate pairing?
Umm, yes please!

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In your opinion, where is tea going in the next 5 years?

I love that tea is getting so much attention these days as a very simple wellness ritual.

Tea is good for you; taking the time to pause what you’re doing and prepare yourself a cup (or pot or gaiwan!) of tea is good for you too.

I don’t think tea is going to go away, and I believe that as people get to know more about tea they will want to develop a deeper knowledge of the product, how/where it’s grown and processed, and the people involved.

Find Sarah Vaughan / Proper Cuppa:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Udemy Tea Course*

*Sign up for Sarah’s Introduction to Tea Course on Udemy using coupon code CUPOFLIFE21. The first 10 people will get the entire course for FREE!

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ABOUT THIS SERIES: Tea tells stories and when connected with humans, more are created. That’s where the idea for this blog series, At the Tea Table, originated. With this series, The Cup of Life asks tea lovers around the world to take us inside their tea lives to share their favourite steeps, spaces, routines and more. Meet some of your fellow tea drinkers here.

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Tea Blending Kit Giveaway!

Sarah is offering ONE lucky reader of The Cup of Life a Tea Blending Kit from Proper Cuppa! This includes Earl Grey, Vanilla, Assam, Keemun, Ceylon, Jasmine and Lavender Petals plus some easy blending recipes to get you started.

The giveaway will run from July 14-July 21. The randomly selected winner will be announced here by the following week. Open to Canada & US residents only. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to follow the directions per entry requirements.

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