Interview with Kelly Maki Hackman

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview my friend Kelly Maki Hackman, owner of The White Heron Tea & Gifts in New Port Richey, Florida and Driftwood Tea Company. Kelly and her staff have been serving afternoon tea to visitors and residents of New Port Richey for over 9 years. Kelly has been featured in Tea Time Magazine, and her tea blends have been recognized by the International Tea Academy and the Global Tea Championship. She has recently released her book "Her Story: Kelly's Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: 2020."

The focus of our discussion was how she addresses common questions and concerns about tea.

Mel: How would you explain the difference between a strong steep and a long steep to someone new to luxury tea?

Kelly: When people ask about strong tea verses a long steeped tea, I explain it like this.  If you were making a batch of chocolate chip cookies and you wanted to taste more chocolate chips in every bite, you would increase the amount of chocolate chips you put in the batter, but you wouldn’t increase the other batter ingredients.  You also wouldn’t bake the cookie for longer than the original time or it would get over done, turn dark, and taste burnt.  Tea is the same way.  You want stronger tea, add more leaf, but still steep it the same way, for the same amount of time.  A long steep, just like baking a cookie too long, will change the flavor completely, and often, so much so that you may not like the taste of it. 

Mel:  What do you offer your guests when they ask for coffee?

Kelly: When a guest request coffee, many times it tells us that they like something a little darker or more robust to drink.  We currently have several blends that we recommend that fall in the realm of slightly darker teas.  Our most popular blend for our coffee drinkers is our puerh and coffee mix.  This allows us to provide them some sort of coffee flavor, along with a darker tea.  Many guests love this because it satisfies their desire for the coffee flavor while providing the benefits of drinking tea.  If they request only a tea blend, we recommend either a puerh or our house blend called “Downtown Afternoon” that has a base of Keemun, resulting in a full-bodied malty flavor.   

Mel:  What do you recommend to guests who want to avoid caffeine?

Kelly: We have quite a few guests that look to enjoy tea without caffeine.  While we understand their desire to enjoy a delicious beverage without caffeine, we also feel that they should not have to sacrifice flavor.  We have found that a lot of our guests enjoy Rooibos blends.  I consider Rooibos a great option with no caffeine, but with the body of a black / green tea.  Of course, we also have pure herbal teas that guests like as well.

Mel: What is the most common tea myth you encounter?

Kelly: The most common tea myths that I tend to hear revolve around tea time and etiquette. Mostly, about making sure your pinky is up.  I politely tell my guests about why pinkies tended to be up in the past, due to primitive cups not having handles and being hot.  They enjoy the story but still put their pinkies up.

Mel:  What is the biggest mistake you see people make when steeping tea?

Kelly: People often ask us how our tea tastes so good but when they go home and make it, it doesn’t taste as good.  When we talk to them about how they make their tea, we often find that the issue lies in the steeping vessel, especially a mesh steeper.  To make tea stronger, we encourage the use of more tea to water, but that doesn’t mean fill the steeper full and cram all the tea in.  Tea needs room to grow and expand, and to release its flavor and nutritional properties.  People often think the more tea they add will make it stronger, but they forget about the need for room for the tea to expand.  We often correct this problem with our guests but showing them the proper tea to water ratio and discussing other simple options for brewing that allow the tea leaf room to expand and impart more flavor.

Mel:  What is your most foolproof tea or tisane?

Kelly: Anything herbal or rooibos tends to be the most forgiving.  Though, I we do have a one of our house blended white teas that tends to be pretty forgiving too.  If you don’t steep it at too hot of a temperature, you can let it steep a little longer without too much adverse effect.  That’s good when you are steeping a lot of teas at one time for a tearoom.

Mel: How would you describe the difference between drinking and preparing luxury loose tea vs. the commonly available tea bag brands?  

Kelly: When I am talking to guests about loose tea verses tea bags we often talk about the tea inside the bag and look at the size difference in the pieces. It’s all about water absorption and the fact that commercial tea bags were meant for a “quick dunk” in hot water verses allowing larger leaves time to open and release flavor. We also talk about how this can cause the leave to bitter if left too long because, with their larger size they continue to absorb water and eventually release other properties that can being to make the tea taste harsh. That’s why it’s always important to pay attention to steeping times and temperatures. You don’t have those issues with small pieces of tea in commercial tea bags.

Mel: Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions Kelly!