28 Jan 2021

During a worldwide pandemic where businesses are closing down, others see great opportunity and seize it.

One such is Ms Selly ‘Tsompie’ Mokaila of Tsompie’s tea room in Tlokweng.
Inspired by her former dietician mother’s love for tea, Tsompie, who is also passionate about cooking and baking, opened a cozy, intimate and luxurious tearoom few months ago.

She told BOPA that coming from a family of tea lovers, who drank it together, she learnt to make it at a young age as they had to get up early to make tea for everyone.

She said her mother was strict and particular with tea etiquette, insisting that tea should be served in a cup, with everything arranged nicely, in a tray, with a tea cloth, not in a thick, chunky mug.

She said her mother would always have a cup of tea whenever her friends visited and yes, with milk and sugar.

Tsompie said her mother had a collection of tea cups and tea pots stored in a display cupboard and brought out only on special occasions, revealing that she has some of her English fine bone China tea cups and saucers.

She said she also developed the love for tea because she drank it often when making it for her mother.

Tsompie also stated that her love for pretty cups was thus ignited and she started her own collection of cups twenty years ago.

She said her many tea sets and other tea accessories, couple with her knowledge of baking birthed the idea of tea room business, adding ‘my love and skill of making tea made the transition to owning and running a tea room a natural step, hence the birth of Tsompie’s tea room.

She said she decided to open the tea room in her backyard because she also wanted to honour and appreciate what she learnt from her mother.

Tsompie explained that her tea room offered a range of teas from Malawi, South Africa, Kenya and Australia, complemented with freshly prepared sandwiches, cakes, scones and other treats; all made by her.

The tea room has four different packages being the cream tea, high tea, afternoon tea and champagne tea.

“My mission and inspiration to start the tea room keeps me motivated.

If I am having a challenging day, I remember my inspiration  and it helps me reset and focus on why I started the company in the first place,” she said.

Among the challenges she mentioned realising that everything could not always be perfect, as from the onset, she wanted everything to be perfect, but after networking with other entrepreneurs, she said she realised that a brand could evolve.

“I also pay close attention to each table and each person to make it a memorable experience as I want people to come here and feel like they were coming home,” she said, adding that she wanted clients to feel comfortable and welcome and even feel like they tried something different even though they would have been there 10 times before.

Tsompie noted that she received a warm response from the public, even though some people were not familiar with premium teas.

In future she said she would like to offer a wide array of packages such as tea in a box, gift baskets, loose teas, tea accessories and delivery services. ENDS