#MCCOTInterview {30}
Francesca Natali, the Italian Tea Stylist who spreads the culture of tea and brings these ancient rituals to the land of coffee
Milan-Based Francesca Natali is living her dream since over 20 years. Indeeed she has built herself a successful career as a Tea Stylist, a dream job she created. Passionate about tea since she was a child, she is now a multitasking busy woman on a mission: a wellness coach, a nutrition, meditation and yoga teacher, a tea managing director, a tea sommelier, a tea event planner... Thanks to her one-of-a-kind and renowned expertise, she is doing her best daily to help Italian people discover and enjoy the super powers of a cup of tea. Because tea is not only a simple beverage. It is an intimate and meditative drink. A luxury experience. An old Asian ritual which can bring joy and balance and helps making one's life better and happier. Let's meet a spiritual and sensitive woman for whom tea has no secrets anymore. Let's learn some good tips from the best.
By Hélène Battaglia
My name is Francesca Natali and I have loved tea since I was playing with dolls in the garden of my house in the countryside. After years in the retail area with 3 stores in Milan with my own brand, today I teach nutrition, meditation, yoga and have a line of Tea & HerbalTea for sale online. On the occasion of Yogafestival Milano 2022, I presented my Tea Sacred Ceremony combining these passions and my dream today is that this ceremony can be a useful tool for all those who want to start meditating and change their lives. A Tea Ceremony that can be proposed in facilities dedicated to wellness, gyms, yoga studios, medical offices to make the ancient benefits of tea and meditation available to as many people as possible so that they can change the quality of their lives starting with small daily habits like preparing a cup of tea. From 2000 I have written books, I have made lots of
masterclasses and given lectures all over Italy to spread the culture of tea
and bring these ancient rituals to the land of coffee! I have trained dozens of
people some of whom have opened tea stores all over Italy. I have trained the
staff of Luxury Hotels, sommeliers from the Milan school, spoken to the butlers
of luxury hotels, followed chefs in preparing a tea card to offer in their
starred restaurants.
When did you fall in love with tea?
When I realized that it was not just a beverage. When I sensed that behind a tea leaf it lays a world to be discovered to improve our lives. The trait of tea that I first loved was sharing. A tea box was always the Christmas gift for all my loved ones and a hot (or cold) brew always ready for my friends. The other trait I love about this beverage is its dreaming aroma, its benefits our mind and body. Its history, which features it at luxurious banquets but also as an intimate and meditative drink, is permeated with extraordinary adventures. I love the pleasant intimacy that waiting for the infusion gives people. Love the ritual that allows me precious time to listen and hear myself. Over the years I have discovered that loving tea means loving cultures and traditions, peoples and territories, it means traveling, meeting people with the same passions. Loving tea means tasting its myriad hues without reservation, letting ourselves to be carried away among legends and stories of emperors and fierce wars.
How did you become a Tea Specialist?
I studied a lot and had 2 mentors who took care of teaching me everything they knew. But then, as in everything in life, you learn a job through experience in the field. I’ve always been able to enjoy an innate creativity that is self-feeding when I am in contact with nature and beauty. I have traveled and tasted a lot. For some years now, even in Italy, online and off-line
schools have sprung up offering training at various levels. When I first started this job, more than 20 years ago, I looked
for teachers around the world on my own. A little bit of luck, and a lot of
resourcefulness… I created my dream job.
I was
the first in Italy to explain why tea preparation is so important and different
from country to country and teapot to teapot. In
2002, I published a booklet to help with the perfect infusion that I gave as
gifts to all the clients in my stores in which I explained how to make tea and
what to perceive while tasting it!
You are used to calling yourself a ‘Tea Stylist”, a name you personally created. What is it exactly about?
Tea Stylist is a term I created, it is my way of explaining my very eclectic and complicated work to the world. I have done Garden Tea Parties, organized baptisms, corporate events, guided tastings paired with Tuscan cigars and chocolate. I have worked for fashion with themed events for Monclaire, Kenzo, Shuemura, Dolce&Gabbana, in art and heritage with FAI and art galleries. I have won Cocktail Competitions with recipes I created based on tea and I have written recipes where tea is the key player, going on television with my Lemon Tart and Darjeeling tea. So this is how the word "Tea Stylist" was born. It was born mainly because around tea I think I have enjoyed interpreting its thousand faces. An interpretation that has my own creative and specialized style. A beverage that is certainly not Italian but that I have transformed in these 20 years into a Luxury Experience. Tea, by its very nature, is a beverage that is never the same, both because it is a living product that changes aroma thanks to a monsoon or a warm ray of sunshine, and because of the fact that the people that are with you make each sesshion unique. Ichigo Ichie!
A cup of tea is not only a simple drink. It’s to you a true ritual. Which are the perfect conditions to enjoy it fully?
First give yourself permission to explore aromas and tastes that you are not familiar with. Then it is important to take time, make notes and write down the feelings we get from drinking white tea or oolong tea. Listen to how our body and our thoughts are.
Which mistakes do we have formally to avoid?
On a practical level we should:
-Choose to prepare our tea with water with very low minerals and neutral pH. To name a few brands in Italy: Plose, Lurisia, Lauretana, Sant'Anna.
- It would be wise to always use tea with loose leaves from artisanal harvest and never tea with leaves processed in CTC or in the single-use bags. A bagged tea cannot be a fresh, vibrant tea.
-Block the infusion when your taste buds say, okay!
-Store tea away from light and heat.
-Buy small quantities so the tea does not age. Only one tea gains value over time by being able to age peacefully. It is called Pu-Erh and is very valuable.
As an experienced Tea Sommelier and author of the book ‘Secrets of Tea’ published in 2013 by Italian publisher Trenta editore, could you please give us some useful tips to choose the perfect that perfectly fits us.
The perfect tea doesn’t exists. There is the one you love. But to love it you have to know its effects on your body and mind, which is why my nutrition programs, Tea & Herbal Tea have a privileged place. In fact, each tea family has its own organoleptic but especially physical characteristics. Each tea is suitable for a particular occasion. For example, it is not wise to drink a Japanese kabuse green tea before going to bed at night; a high-oxidation oolong tea would be better.
You are a multitasking woman. All your activities (Business & Strategic Development Negotiation with Suppliers and sourcing, Marketing & PR, Retail Management, Tea Events) revolve around tea, your passion and your job since decades. Which one do you enjoy most?
When I can be in contact with a tea leaf I am always happy and love all its expressions but I certainly prefer pu-erh teas in its thousand expressions of taste.
In 2002, you’ve launched your own brand called ArtedelRicevere™ and started your career of female entrepreneur. How is this challenging journey going?
Difficult at the beginning, because everything came about by chance, but then when I rewrote the project, defined better my target and studied various business lines, things changed. Having an idea and a passion is not enough, you need method to make a difference. And when La Rinascente Milano asked me to open a corner in the food hall on the 7th floor, for me it was a great feeling and an important challenge of which I am very proud of.
Is it by chance, one of your dreams to open one day your own ‘salon de thé’?
My ego might want that, but I don't think I would tackle such a project alone. I would dream of a tea room in a broad sense where there would be multi-sensory experiences, not just related to tea and food. A magical place full of plants and very cozy, quiet and full of light....
As a Tea Blender, do you have an anecdote regarding a special blend you had to create for a client?
I have worked for fashion, luxury hotels and starred chefs but the most fascinating experience was when I created a Tea & Herbal selection for a luxury Beauty brand called Prismologie. It was the most fun challenge I have ever created. Starting with the aroma and properties of each color, I created 5 exclusive recipes that work on the mind and body by bringing the benefits of the vibrations of the various colors. By the way, I think the idea for my SuperHerbSuperYou project was born in that year. Live life in full bloom.
By the way, which is your favorite tea ever and why?
I love raw pu-erh teas (sheng cha). But in general for me a good tea is the one that:
- meets my taste and makes me feel good according to the hours of the day, my emotional states, the seasons, my daily life.
- releases all the energy of nature and, even if I work long hours, comforts me and restores my physical and mental energy
- elevates my spirit and reminds me that I am part of this magical universe
- immerses me in the here and now because it captures my attention and my senses
- gives me a breath of oxygen and green when I am devoted to work hard!
All the pictures are Courtesy of Mrs Francesca Natali
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