Spilling the Tea with Tea Aficionado Dillon Ramsey
- padillamaryury
- Jun 30
- 3 min read
C-ville Bites is catching up with Dillon Ramsey, who's excited to lead the tea tasting portion our new tea party lunch event series, Tea, Please!
Q: Tell us a little about yourself. How did you become interested in tea?
A: Well, hi! I'm Dillon. I'm a sommelier at Charlottesville’s Café Frank. I've been in the industry for a really long time and I really enjoy what I do. I love cooking healthy food and I got really interested in the medicinal effects of herbs like bitters and absinthe. It was really fun to figure out ways to use the herbs, and tea seemed like a great way to accomplish that. At some point I just decided to bite the bullet and buy some expensive Chinese tea leaves, and found that tea has the ability to create these beautiful flavors. Medicinal herbs and tea are two separate worlds, but it's a ton of fun learning about both and doing both and finding ways to meld them.
Q: What is your earliest tea memory?
A: I've got two tea memories that stand out to me. The first, I think I was 11 years old in Switzerland, drinking Red Zinger with my mother and losing it over the flavor of it. I ending up drinking that tea for years after that, usually while playing cards with her. The second was also another spectacular trip that I was really lucky to be on–a trip to China with my family. We were in Xiamen and I sort of flirted my way into a tea service with this really cute lady. I had no idea what was going on, and the traditional Chinese tea service really blew our minds. Now, it's something that I try to perform every day.
Q: You're a sommelier and a tea enthusiast—a somewhat unusual combination! How do those two passions complement each other?
A: I might be upsetting some people with this, but I wouldn't say I'm passionate about wine. That being said, I have had a ton of experience with it and it's given me a lot of ways to describe tea and a useful methodology to tea tasting. I've done tea tastings a zillion times now and it’s helpful having the words to describe flavors already. Using the knowledge I've gained through my wine experience really helps with this tea stuff.
Q: If you could serve one tea to someone who thinks they don't like tea, what would it be and why?
A: The real answer is, I would want to talk to them and find out what it is that they like and don't like about tea and about other things. But if I was going to have to just pick a proven winner, it would be a really sweetened hibiscus tea. It seems like everybody likes that.
Q: What are your favorite tea and food pairings?
A: I almost always do the two separately. I can pair tea well with an attitude or a feeling or maybe an issue but I almost exclusively drink hot water when I eat.
Q: Is there a particular tea tradition, culture, or ritual that inspires you?
A: I've barely scratched the surface as far as tea, cultures and traditions go, but currently I'm really hooked on Chinese teas and tea service.
Q: What's one common misconception people have about tea?
A: A common misconception I think people have about tea is more of just some awareness I want to bring to the microplastics and tea bags. People, please, use the French press. It's not that difficult and you can get so much more out of your tea. It's less expensive. It's really fun! Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Q: When you're not working, what tea are you most likely to be sipping at home?
A: Currently, I'm sipping Sister Ai's Ancient Tree Red Tea (black tea from Qianjiazhai Mountain in Yunnan, China).
Q: What can guests expect from the tea classes and tea party experiences you'll be helping lead?
A: Hopefully they can expect to learn something and have a lot of fun. I can be a little quirky at times–hopefully in a fun way–but I really enjoy tailoring experiences to people and talking to people and learning about them. I know guests are going to be at vastly different places in their tea journey and I'd love to be able to assist with their tea discovery.
Q: If you could host a tea party with anyone—living or dead—who would be on your guest list and what tea would you serve?
A: If I could serve tea to anybody, it'd be my mom. I'd make some delicate white tea for her and we'd play cards.
