So, it’s elevenses time or mid-afternoon and you’re meeting a friend. My guess is that most of us would reach for a coffee of some description (understandable as tea in most cafes/coffee chains isn’t worth drinking), a latte or a cappuccino, and a huge slice of sticky, overly sweet cake, a cupcake or a muffin.
Lovely Lido
All very well but when you find somewhere like the Lido in Bristol and they serve delicious loose leaf tea what you really want is something lighter and more refined. What on earth happened to a lovely light and snappy biscuit? Luckily at the Lido poolside bar they have a very clever lady called Laura! She makes some truly lovely little treats that are just perfect with a cup of tea. I’m particularly partial to her Baby Palmiers with my pot of Earl Grey tea. If you have the change please go and try them for yourself.
Chatting to the ever-so lovely Fiona Beckett about lovely food and drink finds for her new blog, we were bemused at just how many crackers and biscuits there are to pair with cheese yet so little choice of really good biscuits to have with tea. It got me thinking and I’m on the hunt for the perfect little bite of just sweet enough and buttery enough goodness to be the perfect accompaniment to Lahloo Tea.
I’m starting by making some biscuits tonight and I’ll take them to St Catherine’s Artisan Christmas Market in Frome tomorrow, Sunday 29th November 11-6pm. The lucky shoppers will be our testers – Spelt, honey and cinnamon crisps and Lemon Sables. I’ll report back…
WIN – Christmas Afternoon Tea and Chocolate Box
Tell us all about your perfect tea date....
In conjunction with our November newsletter we are giving away a very special Christmas Afternoon Tea and Chocolate Box.
Its not too late to take part – simply email me, Bryony, and tell me about your ideal Lahloo Afternoon Tea date.
To inspire you here are some of my favourite entries so far….
“My ideal date would be Phil, snuggled in front of our fire, at home, after a brisk Autumnal walk at Westonbirt – with some Lahloo Tea Infusion Chocolates to munch on too!” Joy
“I think my ideal afternoon tea would be a private one, in a really lovely, charming, quirky, luxurious but simple self-catering holiday house… My husband, Pete and I would have spent the day pootling about, exploring pretty villages and countryside… this could be anywhere in Europe… here in the UK or maybe in France or Italy… it would have to be late autumn/early winter, when the air is crisp and cool but the sun is still shining – one retreats into the house, and snuggles up with fabulous tea and chocolates!” Kavey
“A bracing autumn walk with family in the dales followed by Vanilla Mist and Date and Walnut Loaf in front of a cosy fire in a snugly sitting room.” Julie
“Lahloo open a tea room in Harrogate where I can do my Christmas shopping and then go for a cup of Tea and a piece of fruit cake with wensleydale cheese” Anji
I look forward to hearing all about your ideal dates….
Bryony
Ah, Nokcha!
You know those moments when you see something familiar in a whole new light? (There is a chair in my bedroom that I just noticed was actually turquoise and not blue at all for example.) Early this week I visited Bob Parkinson aka Made By Bob and I made him a cup of our Nokcha green tea and I was blown away. Sweet and biscuity, Nokcha is so comforting, the tea equivalent of a cashmere scarf! Now I have found Nokcha again I will be staying in touch more often, in fact I think its time to put the kettle on…
Bryony
Chai is one of my all time comforting teas! There’s nothing better than to wrap your hands around a hot cup of milky chai tea on a cold morning! For us though, the spices used are always a little disappointing and they’re blended with cheap, pretty tasteless tea. Not so good! So, we’ve blended our own unique chai, Lahloo Chai (£6.00/50g) this winter and we have just tasted the first batch.
It tastes and smells extraordinarily good! A rich, chocolatey Ceylon blended with whole green cardamom, star anise, cloves, bay leaves and ginger pieces. Simmer it in hot milk with a splash of honey, pop in a cinnamon quirl to stir and there you go, easy peasy! Enjoy!
PS. It is just perfect drunk out of our gorgeous little embossed flower tea infuser
Blaggers’ Banquet Blogger Charity Event for Action Against Hunger
Through my tweeting, I learned about a fabulous event happening on Sunday 15th November, organised by London’s Food & Drink Bloggers. They will be taking over Hawksmoor, the fabulous steakhouse in Liverpool St, and holding the Blaggers’ Banquet.
So, what is it? Well, the Blaggers’ Banquet will be an exciting 5 course dinner with matched drinks, created entirely by food and drink bloggers, using only food and drink that they have blagged. How cool! What’s more, all proceeds will go to Action Against Hunger. There will also be a blaggers’ auction where they will be auctioning brilliant items they’ve blagged. What a great cause and event!
I just had to get involved and so we’ve just senf off some of our ultimate after-dinner green tea, Green Jasmine – delicate green tea buds mingled with exquisitely frangrant fresh jasmine flowers until the tea absorbs the beautiful uplifting aroma. Pure refreshment! But that’s not all, we’ve also sent a tastebud tantalizing Lahloo Green Jasmine tea-infused Damian Allsop chocolate to be served with it. Lucky people!
If you fancy going, tickets are on sale now on Ebay in pairs for £150 and one table of 5 for £375. Five pairs of tickets will be auctioned starting from £75. If you go, have fun and enjoy.
'A gleaming jewel of a restaurant' - Matthew Norman, The Guardian
On Saturday 14th November 2pm-5pm, I will be at Bordeaux Quay to introduce you to Lahloo Tea. A truly fabulous place, recently voted as the Best Restaurant in Bristol by the Evening Post and no. 37 in the Restaurant Magazine’s National Restaurant of the Year Awards 2009, Bordeaux Quay is a foodies dream.
I will be introducing you to the deli’s range of delicious Lahloo Tea – Snow Jewel white tea, Jade oolong tea, Nokcha green tea and award winning Darjeeling Second Flush black tea. As a special treat I will also be introducing you to our amazing tastebud tantalizing chocolates – Tea Chocolates! It’s absolutely free, so please come along to the deli and discover just how good tea can be. I look forward to seeing you there.
Bordeaux Quay
V-Shed Canons Way
Bristol BS1 5UH
Kate
All lit up for Christmas!
The Lahloo team are so happy! Our beautiful tea has made it onto the shelves of Harvey Nichols. And to mark our Harvey Nichols launch, we have set up a pop-up tea boutique in their new Foodmarket in Bristol’s Quakers Friars. Lahloo Tea will be launched nationally in 2010 (we’ll keep you posted).
We are delighted that following one of Kate’s excited tweets, the Bristol Evening Post interviwed her. Here’s the article:
Bristol business to sell tea in Harvey Nichols
Monday, November 02, 2009, 07:00
A business run out of a one-room office near St Nicholas Market has signed up with Harvey Nichols to sell tea in its stores.
The link between Lahloo and Harvey Nichols starts this week in Bristol at the opening of the luxury store’s dedicated food shop in Quaker’s Friars.
Lahloo founder Kate Gover said the partnership was “a dream come true”. When the food shop opens on Wednesday, Lahloo will have a tea boutique inside, with a tea sommelier talking shoppers through what blends might suit them best.
Mrs Gover, 32, from Clifton, founded the company from her kitchen table in 2005. It is named after the 19th century tea clipper her great-great grandfather sailed.
“For one order from Harvey Nics, we are getting through the same amount of stock that we would normally go through in a month,” said Mrs Gover. “It’s absolutely fantastic for us, but it’s a lot of hard work.”
Mrs Gover buys her teas from mostly family-run farms in China, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
Lahloo is already stocked at London department store Liberty’s, and closer to home it can be bought in Arch House Deli, the Clifton Lido and Bordeaux Quay.
At the Harvey Nics food shop, Lahloo will have a “pop-up tea boutique”, with the tea sommelier standing next to a bespoke wooden unit in Lahloo’s traditional colourful stripes; while in the new year the tea will be stocked in Harvey Nics across the country.
Mrs Gover, who used to manage the former Fresh and Wild store on Queen’s Road, said that her knowledge of tea continues to grow.
She said: “People like to label me as a tea specialist, a tea connoisseur, even the tea lady. I believe there’s still so much to learn. I’m still tasting and explaining about tea every day. I will taste a new flavour in a tea every single time I make it.”
So if you have a Harvey Nichols near you look out for Lahloo Tea on the shelves soon.
Artisan food is made with care and attention that can be seen and tasted (hopefully by me!)
I love edible presents! This will come as no surprise to those who know me as I love eating and drinking.
That is why I am hoping to find something yummy in my stocking this year plus the reason I have been hunting down new artisan food to wrap up and put under the tree this year.
I love discovering the countless stories behind all the artisan food and drink out there waiting to be unearthed for my enjoyment. Isn’t it great to discover a product that’s been crafted with love from a secret family recipe that’s been passed down the generations? I always get the most excited when I find something new that has been cured, baked, picked or grown by hand and then being able to share what I have found. Don’t you feel like you can always taste the attention to detail and passion in the end result in these artisan goods?
For me the real beauty of eating handcrafted food is that one batch of cheese, beer or tea changes subtly from the next as a result of that seasons weather. Isn’t it special to think that the spring rains or the summer sun and the seasonal differences year on year have influenced the sweetness or richness of the cup of darjeeling second flush I had this morning?
The passion, the flavour and the stories are why artisan food has my vote for the best Christmas gift plus our loved ones deserve something as unique and special as them.
Also as we all eat and drink that means a consumable gift is perfect for everyone, even Uncle Ernie…. Happy Shopping!
Bryony
All Lahloo teas are grown by small scale artisan farmers and are fairly traded. The providence of our tea is of utmost importance to us.
Always on the look out for the UK’s newest business talent Dan at BusinessZone.co.k made a special video edition of the feature profiling his tips for the entrepreneurial stars of the future…Kate.
Inspired by travels in the Mediterranean, The Seahorse offers an experience with great food served in relaxed but informal surroundings.
In the same spot that once housed Fishworks in Bristol, Kate’s beedy eye spotted that something new was in the making! With her ear to the ground she discovered that award winning restaurateur and 21st century fishmonger, Mitch Tonks was actually opening an exciting new seafood market and grill – Rockfish.
Kate was invited to take Lahloo Tea and taste it with the new team at a very rushed tasting just days before Rockfish opened. Here she met Mitch and wowed him with a cup of Lahloo Green Jasmine tea. He loved it! Mitch then invited us to sample Lahloo Tea at his other seafood grill in Dartmouth, The Seahorse. Here, he tasted and found his favourite cup of tea – Guricha japanese green tea! Lahloo have been supplying Mitch Tonks’ new Rockfish Seafood Market and Grill with Lahloo Tea since their opening in the Summer and recently we sent the first order to a very excited team at The Seahorse.
Thank you for serving Lahloo loose-leaf tea Mitch and your team! To book The Seahorse click here, or for Rockfish click here. Enjoy your meal (and your tea – Guricha green tea goes perfectly with fish)!
