NEW ZEALAND
The Langham Hotel is providing full tea sommelier training to management and hospitality staff. This will set an unprecedented level of service within their establishment, paving the way for other luxury hotels and hospitality services to take their own tea service to the next level. Tea service at hotels in the west is typically found lacking; tea bags containing poor-quality, low-grade tea purchased from the supermarket are often used, giving tea consumers a disappointing sub-standard experience.
This is in comparison with premium coffee, which has been on the rise in the west to the point where many consumers would turn their backs on poor-quality coffee service.
By offering this training to staff, the Langham Hotel is making an unprecedented step forward to capture the hearts of local and international tea lovers passing through their doors and will be bringing their tea service up to scratch with the state of many establishment’s sophisticated coffee services — perhaps even beyond. [SJ]