An at-home tea tasting is a unique and fun idea for your next date night or get-together with friends! Replace the traditional wine tasting with an array of delicious tea samples, which you can easily pair with tasty snacks and sweets to complement the tea flavors.

The only bit of know-how you need to put this easy idea into action is how to properly steep tea. Set the mood, drink some amazing tea, and take some time together to connect.

Tea kettle, cups, and glass pitchers set up on a countertop with different bags of tea behind them.

Generally, tea cupping is meant to identify the purity of tea and therefore usually with single-source and origin tea only. Tea tasting can be done with multiple varieties and kinds of tea.

🌟Why you’ll love this date night idea

  • Inexpensive – You can put this tea-tasting date night together on a small budget if you don’t want to go overboard. You likely have everything you need at home, and if not, there are amazing teas available at a variety of prices.
  • Customizable – You can choose your own tea adventure with this idea! Select any type of tea you have been really wanting to try. Stick to one variety or choose many.
  • Variety of flavors – There are SO MANY incredible teas out there to try. Fruity, sweet, herbal, bitter, light, rich… the list never ends!
  • Easy to create at home – You need little to no equipment to put this together at home, all of which you probably already have in your kitchen.
  • Non-alcoholic – Unlike a classic wine tasting, this idea is a great way to do an alcohol-free tasting. If you did want to add an alcohol element, I recommend a tea cocktail like this matcha mint julep.

🍵Teas ideas for a tea tasting

I recommend combining a minimum of three tea options for a special tea-tasting experience. This combination can be entirely up to you, but here are some ideas of categories of teas to feature:

  • Green tea like hojicha or sencha
  • Black tea like earl grey, chai, or breakfast tea
  • Rooibos tea, tulsi tea, or other herbal teas or blends
  • Oolong tea
  • White tea

If you want to design a theme for your tea tasting, here are some ideas:

  • Fruits and florals – select some fruit teas like cherry, strawberry, and blackberry and serve them alongside floral teas like jasmine, rose, and hibiscus
  • Black tea exploration – serve only black teas with different flavor infusions, such as cinnamon, vanilla, caramel, coconut, or even chocolate
  • Citrus sampling – curate teas with citrus flavors like lemon, orange, lime, peach, or passion fruit
  • Oolong adventure – there is such a large variety of oolong teas out there, and be sure to include one high mountain, one dark, and one green or jade oolong

🍽️ Extras to Serve with Your Teas

Here are some accompaniments to serve alongside your teas to help enhance the flavors and add to the tea-tasting experience.

Here are some freezer-friendly cookies we like to have handy and not have to make the cookies from scratch.

🫖How to host a tea tasting date night

Time needed: 1 hour

To get the most out of your tea tasting, follow the instructions below.

  1. Pick a location

    This could be at your kitchen counter, at a dining table, on your couch, or even on the floor with pillows! Place a tablecloth to make the experience extra special.

  2. Set the mood and snacks

    Light a candle, clip some flowers from the yard or nearby wildflowers, and adjust the lighting to be more relaxing and romantic. Set up your pairings and accouterments within reach.

  3. Pick special mugs or glasses

    Select your serving glasses. I like to serve teas in glass or white containers as it’s part of the experience to see the beautiful color, or in other special cups.

  4. Prepare the teas

    Boil hot water to steep the tea, if you have an electric kettle you can plug it in nearby. Most teas will require less than 5 minutes of steeping. Set a timer so you can chat during each steep.

  5. Tasting

    Sample each tea one at a time and together, making sure to discuss the flavors and how you both feel about them in between. The main components to look for are aroma, body, color, and flavor.

Pro Tips

The key to a successful tea tasting is properly steeping your tea. Be sure to read the instructions on your particular tea for measurements and temperature. Take it a step further by weighing your tea using a tea scale, measuring the water, and timing the steeping.

If your tea package doesn’t tell you the temperature, check out this guide on how to properly steep tea. If your kettle doesn’t have a temperature setting, you can use any instant-read thermometer.

Take a sip of water between each tea tasting to reset your palette and fully enjoy the flavor of each tea.

☕️Equipment

All you need is something that will boil water and any tea steeper or tea pot. If you want to take your tea tasting to the next level or picture yourself steeping tea regularly, here are some items I like having around:

I steep the tea in the carafe, and strain it through the superfine strainer into the pitcher for serving.

Some Favorite Tea Recipes

Explore your love of tea further with these great recipes.

I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK, and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m up to.

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