Our Founder's Journey - Tea with Joanne

How I Found Tea

Hello, I'm Joanne, the founder of A Moment of Tea. It's funny how something can be right in front of you your whole life before you really see it. Growing up in Yichang, a tea-growing city along China's Yangzi River, my mum always started her day with green tea. Every visit to friends began with putting the kettle on. Tea was everywhere, but I never actually drank it myself.

Then came a random afternoon in a teahouse in Beijing in 2014. I tried five different green teas at a tasting event and noticed a lingering sweetness that stayed with me for two whole days. I'd never experienced anything like it. That afternoon changed the direction of my life.

Learning the Craft

I found Ms. Xiao at the Lian Yu School in Beijing and spent the next few years studying tea properly. History, grading systems, how different regions produce completely different styles. Ms. Xiao had founded the school and she taught me to pay attention to the details most people overlook. I also trained in traditional tea ceremony, learning to slow down and let the tea guide the moment rather than rushing through it.

When I moved to Australia in 2017, I started sharing what I'd learned with friends and neighbours here in Hobart. What surprised me was how curious people were. They asked questions I hadn't thought about before, and that pushed me to understand tea from a different angle. It made me appreciate that tea connects people regardless of where they're from.

Starting A Moment of Tea

In 2020, when the world slowed down during the pandemic, I felt a strong pull to use tea as a way to bring people together. I began organising small weekly tea gatherings. They were simple. A table, some good tea, a few people willing to sit and be present for an hour. Those sessions became something people looked forward to each week.

I was brewing tea every day during that period, often during the hardest parts of it. And I kept noticing the same thing: the simple act of warming a teapot, watching leaves unfurl, breathing in the steam, it brought me back to the present. Ten minutes at my tea table could reset a whole day.

It was during one of those quiet moments that the name "A Moment of Tea" came to me. That's what it was really about. Not the leaves or the water temperature or the teaware. The moment itself.

Today, Zachary and I run A Moment of Tea from our Tea Bar at Salamanca Art Centre in Hobart. We source teas from China, Japan, and Tasmania. We teach people how to brew. We sit with customers and help them figure out what they enjoy. And I still find that the best part of any day is that first cup in the morning, when everything goes quiet for a few minutes.

If you'd like to experience it yourself, come visit us. Or start with a cup at home. Either way, I hope tea gives you the same sense of calm it gives me.

Learn more about our business and how to visit us.