NEA-T place for a cuppa
North East Artisans has announced the opening of its new tea room, NEA-T, as it looks to create a friendly community hub at its Carrier St home.
DeSales Turner, who came up with the idea, said the grand opening was held on Tuesday, March 1.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Ms Turner said.
“We’re starting with just four flavours of tea initially. We want to judge how the public embraces the tea room before we possibly expand that.
“So we have a black tea, a green tea, a lemon and ginger tea and a black forest berry tea.
“We’ll start with those four and it’s going to be brewed, there’ll be no tea-bags.
“We’re going to keep the price down so it’s only $4 for a pot of tea, and customers can grab a biscuit at no extra charge.
“We also have small cakes and they can be purchased. We have lemon slices, chocolate slices and angel slices.”
Ms Turner said with four galleries currently open there would be great local art for people to enjoy with their tea.
And, of course, it is all available to purchase; however, Ms Turner said it was not necessarily about that.
“It’s a way to connect the community,” she said.
“It’s a way to provide a safe space where people can come and just sit, and they don’t have to come in and purchase anything, they can come in and just sit down and relax.
“We want to continue to offer that hospitality and gathering space that we’ve become known for.
“Plus we now have our outside area open, which is all under shade cloth.”
Ms Turner said they picked tea because “everywhere you go in Benalla you can get coffee”.
“But there isn’t any places that just specialise in tea — particularly loose leaf, brewed tea,” she said.
“We hope that will be something that will be a drawcard.
“We will also have coffee, but we’re not baristas.
“There will be Robert Timms coffee bags. That’s the best we can offer as far as coffee is concerned.
“But having people come in and just appreciate the art with a tea or coffee is something I think is pretty important.
“In fact, I think it’s really NEA-T.”
● North East Artisans is at 28 b and c, Carrier St Benalla. It is open Tuesday to Friday from 10am to 4pm and on Saturday from 10am to 2pm.