Author Archives

Hi I'm Sadia and my passion is to write, create art and work on community led participatory art projects amongst many things. I thrive on being involved in direct grassroots activities and have a considerable amount of experience working with a variety of different communities and groups across London.

‘Tea & Cupcakes’ Photo Shoot

We had fun on this very special ‘Tea & Cupcakes’ photo shoot with photographer Connie Taylor. Cupcakes specially designed by Rose Cupcakes.

 

Community Dialogues: Tea Stories with Al Hasaniya Moroccan Women’s Centre

TeaStoryGameOn a bright and sunny day at Kew Gardens, a group of ladies were enjoying a tea party. They ate yummy cakes and discussed foods from their native homeland, which brought back many good memories. ‘I spoke about food from my country Jordan, where I am going to visit tomorrow. When I get home my sister will come and see me and we will chat and cook some rice and chicken and work together, and sit and eat. All this food talk has made me hungry! So when I get home, I shall make food for my children and fold clothes before putting my feet up for some tea…..’

This is one of the many stories created during our bespoke tea party at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew with Al Hasaniya Moroccan Women’s Centre on Monday 29th April 2013 as part of the project Community Dialogues. The The tea party, originally a traditional English, became something new after the ladies all from Arabic descent from the Centre brought along their own traditional food. It was a lovely addition and very, very yummy! We really enjoyed this cultural mixing of food and language.

During the tea party the ladies played our specially designed parlour games exploring a series of edible plants at Kew Gardens these included tea, chillies, sugar, cocoa and the date palm; an edible plant cultivated in the Arab world. We explored their experiences of these plants and the ladies shared particular stories, recipes and memories, these were also captured on film in our set up ‘Stories Studio’ with filmmaker Shazia Ur-Rehman.

Here are a selection of photos from the day, we had our youngest tea guest attend this tea party!

(c) Photo credits: Mikey Knott

BBC Radio Interview with DJ Nihal

Having gone through my archives I came across this gem and decided to make a YouTube video for all to see! The interview took place last year during the Queens Jubilee celebrations of which I even provided a tea party for the Queen at the London Pride festival being one of the many things I talk about… I really enjoyed listening to the public opinions on tea and of course talking to DJ Nihal about my love of tea!

Community Dialogues: Tea Party with Al Hasaniya Moroccan Women’s Centre

 

North African Tea PartyToday, were busy preparing and making our special parlour games for Monday’s Tea Party at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew with Al Hasaniya Moroccan Womens’ Centre as part of our project; ‘Community Dialogues’.

The project ‘Community Dialogues’ aims to engage and bring together groups of different, diverse cultural backgrounds to creatively explore and exchange dialogues on edible plants at Kew. The origins of a series of edible plants are explored, how they are used in cooking and in particular specific stories shared and captured all of course over a good cuppa tea!

The Al-Hasaniya Moroccan Women’s Centre serves the needs of Moroccan and Arabic-speaking women and their families in London. We had the pleasure of meeting the ladies, a lively bunch in March on a tour at Kew Gardens and are looking forward to hosting our bespoke tea party for them next week!

Articles and pictures to follow….

 

Tea Revives the World

Tea Revives the World

As an avid tea drinker I remember seeing this at the ‘Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art’ exhibition at the British Library in 2010 and it was brought to memory today as I was supping on some of my special masala chai and thinking about how tea has travelled the world. In 1940, Britain was enduring one of the darkest periods of the Second World War. MacDonald Gill’s poster, issued by the International Tea Market Expansion Board during the Second World War, describes the historical and cultural importance of tea around the world. It is not only a celebration of Allied economic superiority, but a cheering rallying cry in time of war and conflict and a celebration of Britain’s adopted beverage. The underlying message is that tea can cure and unite a sick world.

A map of the world serves as the background for a series of tea facts and quotes. For example, just west of Portugal, one reads; “Queen Catherine going from Portugal to London to marry Charles II took TEA with her to console her future loneliness.” Referencing how tea found its way to England.

I really enjoyed this poster and the representation of the journey of tea around the world to many corners. It cleverly depicts how tea has infiltrated many societies and is now part of the every day. Particularly pertinent for my tea parties, an international series which serve tea from different parts of the world.

Sadia’s Masala Chai

MasalachaiAt our tea parties, there are often requests for recipes and how to’s, our most sought after is our masala chai recipe. So here it is for all you lovely folk who enjoy a good cuppa chai:

Sadia’s Masala Chai

Serves 2 people

Ingredients

1 and a half cups of water

2 heaped teaspoons of Assam tea leaves

1/4 teaspoon of Masala Chai

Sugar to taste

1 cup of milk

3 crushed cardamon pods

Method

Boil 1 and a half cups of water, adding 2 heaped teaspoons of Assam tea leaves whilst the water is boiling. Then add 1/4 teaspoon of Masala Chai (this can be brought from any good Indian/South Asian shop). Bring water to the boil and then add 1 cup of milk and the cardamon pods and sugar to taste. Let the chai simmer for a few minutes (to let the milk heat up) and then using a strainer pour your tea out and serve.

Voila there you have it folks, Masala Chai. Enjoy.

Sneak Peek: Photos preview

Excited to be sharing a sneaky peek of some photos taken this weekend with Connie Taylor Photography for our new website and promo materials. I’m sure you’ll agree that these are absolutely tea-rrific!

Looking forward to sharing some more. Hope you all have a tea-riffic Thursday!

Community Dialogues at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

Artist and Tea party hostess Sadia Ur-Rehman has been busy developing the project ‘Edible Plants: Community Dialogues’ for Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Sadia will be working with four local community organisations in a series of workshops in the format of a ‘pop up tea salon’ to explore edible plants in both the Temperate House and Palm House.

The project aims to engage and bring together groups of different, diverse cultural backgrounds to creatively explore and exchange dialogues on edible plants. The origins of a series of edible plants will be explored, how they are used in cooking and in particular specific stories shared and captured.

On Thursday 21st February, Sadia hosted her first tea party with Age UK Hounslow at Kew exploring the edible plants; tea, cocoa, chilli pepper and turmeric. The group had some lively discussions and shared some interesting stories!

Here are a selection of photos from the day:

(c) Photo credits: Mikey Knott

Welcome

Sadia_Tea @ Museum of Childhood

Hello all and welcome to Sadia’s Tea Party, on this blog page we’ll keep you up to date with all things tea.

Sadia’s tea parties offer a unique and vibrant experience, hosted by artist and tea hostess Sadia Ur-Rehman, using the idea of traditional afternoon tea, stirring it up a little with the addition of specially designed themed parlour games and an international theme that’ll allow you to travel the globe whilst you sup on your tea in fancy china.

The tea parties were born in late 2010. From January to March 2011, Sadia hosted six tea parties at Valentines Mansion as part of the project ‘A Local Dialogue’.  Using tea as a connector, ‘A Local Dialogue’ is an experimental approach to working with words and language for a project that inspires residents of a particular local area. As an avid tea lover Sadia decided to host the tea parties for local residents, creating a communal space for local people to meet and discuss the local area.

‘’The idea for the tea parties came about from my own love of the beverage and how a good cuppa can be the setting for a really good conversation. I wanted to create a space where strangers could connect and engage over a conversation and I thought about an activity that all communities and cultures shared, and tea drinking seemed apt.”

Each tea party served a different type of tea from a different part of the world, guests were able to experience how tea is drunk in South Asia, North Africa, Persia, China and of course England. An authentic experience was provided with each tea party, Sadia also set a topic of conversation about the local area and history designing fun and interactive parlour games for guests to play.

Since then Sadia has taken her tea parties to a number of locations including the National Maritime Museum and Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Sadia even met the Queen in a special performative tea party as part of the London Pride Festival. In 2013 Sadia plans to take her tea parties far and wide, keep up to date with all delving’s and developments on this blog!