After last week's London JS I got talking to one of the attendees, Kat Thompson (she's also written about HTeaML), about how tea and cake are painfully missing from these kind of events, particularly in the UK. Beer and pizza is the norm it seems, but where's the love for the traditional English beverage and spongey food-stuff?
We won't rest until that question is well and truly answered. And how do you do that? By giving them the love they deserve, dagnabbit!
Concept
So our goal is to set out and provide a light-hearted event that juxtaposes the geeky world of Web development with the beautifully traditional and quirky world of tea and cake. We call it HTeaML, and it will be awesome.
What's not to love about great company, developer talks, tea, and cake?
Bringing in the experts
We plan for each event to have an expert baker and bringer-of-tea (10 points if you come up with the official title for a tea maker). With this in mind, each event will have a delightful selection of cakes and tea, some of which you may have never seen before, and some of which may be old favourites. They will be tasty nonetheless.
Bonus points are awarded for geeky tea and cakes, within reason (they need to be edible). I've already seen a cake that has an Arduino board built in, so you have your work cut out for you!
Learning experience
The whole point of these events will be to learn while enjoying the yummy surroundings. With this in mind we plan to bring you great talks from some of the nicest and most experienced people within the industry. Our only requirement? Each talk must have a connection to tea or cake at some point. Why? Because it's fun.
We aren't quite sure on the format yet, but we envisage either one or two exciting talks about Web development. As well as that we plan to have one or two short tea and cake related talks, put on by each event's baker and bringer-of-tea. Part of the experience will be learning a little bit about the weird and wonderful offline world that we spend o'so much time in.
I'm looking forward to it!
Accommodating as many people as possible
One of the reasons why we like this idea is that is allows developers to come along who wouldn't normally be able to. Whether that was because they're too young to be in a pub, or simply because they don't agree with the drinking culture, it doesn't really matter. The main thing is that these events will be open to one and all. You can always just have the water if you're not into tea!
But why stop there? We know full well that not everyone likes a good tea (they're crazy, but those people exist), so we also plan to bring in some amazing coffee as well.
And for those other crazies (yes, they're everywhere!), we plan to accommodate gluten-free diets as much as we possibly can. My lady-friend is gluten intolerant, so I care about this on a personal level. After all, who are we to decide who can and can't enjoy cake?
Time and location
We know that the events will be in London somewhere, but we don't know exactly where yet. It will be somewhere near to a main public transport hub, and within easy reach for those who live outside London (like me).
As for a time, we are pretty set on it being on a weekday. We haven't gotten as far as choosing a specific time or day yet.
Feedback required
So this is where you come in. We've outlined our concept and we'd love to hear your feedback. In the comments below works best for us.
- Will you be coming along?
- What area of London would you prefer the event to be put on?
- Just a rough area, not a specific street.
- What day and time works best for you?
- Just a day and rough time is good enough, eg. Monday evening.
- Do you know of any cake bakers or bringers-of-tea that would like to help?
- They don't have to be companies. We'd like to work with individuals as well.
Any other feedback or ideas? We'd love to hear about it.
I hope you enjoy our idea as much as we do. We can't wait to make this a reality.
Rob & Kat.
Transmissions Received
Shane Hudson
Crazy.. but I love it haha. I doubt I will make it though, bring it further south!
Clive Walkden
Surely a Tea Profession is a Tea Master!
MrQwest
Sounds like a great Idea Rob and one I’d like to come along too. Sounds like fun & all :)
Area wise, I’d say either central london or somewhere south of the river for me. No fuss regarding days but I’d prefer an evening thing.
Alex Watson
I love tea, and I can bake cakes! But I’m based in Birmingham. Would definitely consider jumping on the train to London after work for this though.
So, any evening would suit me, preferably after 7pm!
Jon Wood
What an amazing idea, you can count me in.
May I suggest having a word with Yumchaa (www.yumchaa.co.uk) to see if they can provide some space in one of their shops? I know of few places quite as passionate about their tea and cake!
Phil
My vote is for - Tea Wizard!
Sounds like a great idea. Whether I make it is all about date/time etc.
I’d have to travel from Cambridge so near-ish Kings Cross or Liverpool St would suit me. Evenings are also good so I can either take a 1/2 day or come after work - Friday’s are obviously bad for travelling. Perhaps it could fit outside rush hour? So 8pm or 11am or something?
Hummingbird Bakery are amazing. Would be willing to bake / bring - but obviously couldn’t do it for a large group. Perhaps a “bring and share” type event if not using professionals?
Awesome idea.
Morena Fiore
I’m definitely up for it. Even those who don’t drink alcohol will be able to join.
I think there’s a writer/baker on twitter, @jemimah_knight she could definitely contribute.
I think Wednesday evening sounds good. A nice venue is Make Do shop in King’s Cross
Let me know when this happens, can’t miss it!
Dave Letorey
As a spin off you could have JS meet up called CoffeeScript
jamie knight
Hiya,
sounds like a good idea, count me in!
Cheers,
Jamie
Adrian Westlake
Great idea Rob,
Would love to come. Ideally can we have something nearer to South/West London, perhaps Westminster/Waterloo area. All of the current meetups seem to be in the city/soho areas, where I’m based way out West in Fulham. Somewhere in between would be good.
Tom Stutt
Rob
This is an awesome idea. Not sure I would be able to come but if you bought this idea to Bristol/South West then definetly be there.
I like the idea of bringing your own to share. Has to be homemade though. Not shop bought.
Tom
Patrick Hamann
Hey Rob,
I’m a big fan of this, (though as you saw on twitter, am personally more inclined towards coffee) and so are many in my office - tea being the most important substance in our workplace. We also enjoy cake so much that we write a monthly “cake of the month” post on our blog for noteworthy cakes we have tasted over the last 28 days.
Therefore, count us in! Old street/east london area is my preference.
Evenings after 6, but would also like whole day saturdays??
Would definitely bring some home baked cakes to share and taste.
What about ingredient themed events? Fruit? Chocolate? Oolong e.t.c
I’d also happily help you with organising if it is needed?!
Skills Matter in Clerkenwell, our also a great place to host tech events and normally free, with large spaces: http://skillsmatter.com/
@patrickhamann
Andy Walpole
Sounds like a good idea
As a non-drinker I do feel a bit uncomfortable when everyone around me starts drinking at a coder meeting.
It would be coffee for me as I don’t do tea
Matt
Its probably cause every web guy has had enough of tea from being at work all day! I am a web developer based in Leicester would happily drive to London for a drink up but no way just for more cups of tea!
Steve
Gonna serve that with CrumpetSS?
Sven
love the idea. count me in.
Matt
Sounds perfect! I’ve attended a few small conferences and really enjoyed them but as a cake fiend and tea lover (I’m wearing a tea-shirt and my site is maketea.co.uk, currently on my 7th cup out of my Glug conf. mug…) this is even more up my street.
Simon Mackie
Smashing idea. I will definitely come along if I’m in or near London at the time.
Rob George
Nice event name Rob ;-)
I’m in! Anytime is ok for me but avoiding rush hour would be preferable.
I think any fairly central London location would be pretty good as the transport links will be easy. Perhaps you need a little survey of out of town people to see which direction the majority of people are coming from?
“Mr Tea” was my first thought for tea maker title but we probably need a more female friendly one!
Clemency
Sounds fab! I can help with a venue, tea and we have a couple of kick ass bakers in our building near St Pauls Cathedral :-)
Nick Hawkins
If you’re looking for some space in Kings Cross (Tileyard Rd), the floor above us is currently hanging spare. Let me know if you want the details.
Joss Crowcroft
I would love to come to this… despite living in HK I’ve been missing out on tea recently!
I’ll be in London for 5 days or so, 31st August to 5th September, so if it’s between those days, I’m there!
If not, can you do a G+ hangout while it’s going on? Or I can skype video call in!
Tom Brightman
Although a web designer (with a secret love for code thanks to my developer friends) I would love to see some good events like this. East London is always a good shout (around silicon roundabout as it’s now dubbed). Monday night is a good shout as for most of us it’s the one of few days we can get out of the studio at a reasonable hour.
Kris Noble
Love the idea, as a big fan of tea and cake I’m definitely up for it.
Central / South London for me, weekday evening would be ideal.
Micheil Smith
I’m up for this; I can bake cakes too, provided I have ingredients. As for location, probably somewhere in Islington / Clerkenwell. A day of the week? probably a monday afternoon, say, 4:30pm (proper tea time).
At the same time, it could be cool to have a morning meetup, in which case a friday at 9:30 or something.
bruce
I’d attend, Rob, if evil Operatives are allowed in.
I’m in Birmingham so afternoon or early evening works best for me. Anywhere in Lahndahn works for me.
bruce
Gareth Williams
I love this idea! Tea and cake is an awesome combo! We have a ‘rate my cake’ competition at work which Im doing on thursday! I’m thinking of adding a QR code to the topping which fires you off to the recipe and stuff!
East London would be a good shout on a saturday or mid week after 6. Give people a chance to get their after work!
zen
Teasbody. Teasbody is the official name for someone who makes lots of tea! Count me in… Always looking for people to enjoy drinking tea with :)
Marcelo Bessi
Really nice textures list, thanks for sharing friend!!
Clemency
Did you manage to find a venue for this? I’m still up for hosting this, have beautiful light building near St Paul’s and a kettle and lots of mugs!
Martin
Great idea, as a big fan of tea and cake I’m definitely up for it..Very Nice!!
Bridie
Hi,
Please drop me an email if you would be interested in turning this idea into an event during Internet Week Europe in November. Any questions dont hesitate to ask!
Cuero
Teasbody. Teasbody is the official name for someone who makes lots of tea! Count me in..!!
Binkbenc
I vote for dough-veloper as the bun bringer.