Waypoint Tea Co.

Waypoint Tea Co is run by Finn McGrath, a long-time hospitality professional who spent years in craft beer, bars and restaurants and noticed that tea was usually an afterthought on the menu. He began the company in 2018 with a simple idea: good tea should be easy to find, brew and enjoy, with no additives. The teas are blended and packed in Canberra and sold online across the country, and they are poured in some of the city's cafés and restaurants. The shopfront is in the Dairy Road precinct in Fyshwick, in Building 3.3, down the corridor from Keep Co, the Grainger Gallery and the Canteen restaurant.

The range is deliberately short, a dozen teas. Waypoint Breakfast blends Ceylon, Assam and Chinese black; Campfire is a smoky mix of Assam and Chinese leaf for people who like a peated whisky; Springtime Breakfast, with rose and lavender, was created for Floriade, the city's spring flower festival; the Masala Chai was blended with the Chabbra family's recipe to celebrate a friend's wedding. The sencha and the Matcha Genmaicha are made from green tea grown in northern Victoria, and the imports are a Pai Mu Tan, Jasmine Pearls, an Earl Grey and two tisanes, a plain peppermint and a hibiscus, lemongrass and peppermint blend.

Most teas come in an 80 g bag (50 g for the white, the pearls and the peppermint), with a sample size for trying and 250 or 500 g bulk bags for the kitchen. The shop is open from 11 to 2, Wednesday to Friday, with tasters on the counter and time for a chat about tea; outside those hours the team is blending, packing or visiting suppliers, and the reception desk at Keep Co down the corridor can say whether Finn is on site. Waypoint also makes custom blends, wedding favours and corporate gifts, sells wholesale to cafés, and turns up at local markets and the occasional workshop.