Creatives unite, over tea and chocolate

Attendees settling in to taste tea and chocolate

How do you know you are in the right place, with the right people, at the right moment?  You can just feel it!  We had that experience as part of a Seattle Creates agenda of amazing artists living in the intersections of design, architecture, culinary arts, and passionate engagement with our living and integrated world.  A Matter of Taste opened a deep design-thinking agenda that challenged ideas of space, experience, emotion, and engagement across the community of those who envision. 

We oriented the room with an intersecting conversation of our own, pairing oolong tea with fine tea-infused chocolate.  Using our “tasting with all the senses” method to guide the room through an opening level-set, we observed carefully rolled oolong leaves open as they steeped, enjoyed the snap of chocolate as we broke a piece to taste, smelled the floral, bitter, fruity notes in the tea, tasted the notes of the tea in the chocolate as it coated our mouths, and observed the touch of texture, astringent tea and creamy smooth chocolate. We closed with a moment to integrate our sensations- taking a second or third taste to uncover even more- before fostering the sense of connection by sharing our revelations with our community.  

Doing this process as the transition into a magical shared design experience with 40 people was a “coming home” feeling, knowing that as creatives ourselves who have merged our chosen disciplines to create A Matter of Taste, we had the opportunity to further inspire our community.  That’s why we do what we do, inspiring the communities we serve to integrate their own understanding of themselves and their teammates to go bigger, better, and bolder.

Being a part of a change agenda is just as gratifying as leading the experience, creating harmony with other inspirations.  Partnerships fuel lasting change, whether that’s launching a business, designing a community resource, or sharing the ideas a new flavor sensation has invoked as a way of speaking them into being.  When we experiment together, when we learn together, we share the burdens and benefits of translating learning to action, as a community of experience.  

Jennifer leading the group through Tasting with All Your Senses featuring Oolong tea.