Boiled eggs, sourdough soldiers and Lahloo breakfast tea…

…the perfect bank holiday brunch!

Lovely with a cup of Lahloo Breakfast!

At a guess, your favourite fall-back-on or start-the-day tea is probably black tea – malty English Breakfast, citrusy Darjeeling Second Flush or smokey Lapsang Souchong – ours is!

Rather than tea blends of up to 60 different teas from huge gardens, we have sourced a collection of teas that are either sublime single estate teas or teas we have blended in small batches. Like our breakfast tea or our vanilla pod infused Vanilla Mist. Each tea’s tastes and aromas are completely different but always very satisfying.

Our favourite weekend tea time after a busy week: Saturday brunch. Dippy boiled eggs and hot buttered sourdough toast soldiers (check out our favourite bread handmade by our favourite bakers – Hobbs House and Townmill Bakery), the papers and a teapot full of steaming Lahloo Breakfast tea!

To enjoy our breakfast tea, take 1 heaped teaspoon of leaves per person and brew with freshly boiled water for 3-4 mins. Add a splash of milk if you like, now sip and start your day as you mean to go on!

Buy Lahloo breakfast tea

The Tweed Run Afternoon Tea 2010

A lovely cup of Lahloo Tweed Run Afternoon Tea in Kensington Gardens (photo by Rion Nakaya)

Under cloudless skies, 400 dapper gents and dashing ladies set out on the Tweed Run, London, 2010 from the Rootstein Hopkins Parade Grounds at the Chelsea College of Art & Design for a lovely 12 mile jaunt through the capital, stopping off along the way in Kensington Gardens for a spot of Lahloo Tweed Afternoon tea sipped from gorgeous vintage tea cups from our friends at Bristol Vintage.

Click on the image to see more fabulous photos from the fabulous event!

I bet you didn’t know that tea…

…comes from the same plant!

Tasting real tea for the first time is often compared to discovering the complex world of wine. Amazingly, all tea is made from the same plant (camellia sinensis) whether it’s black, oolong, green or white.

Like wine, cheese and whisky, tea‘s unique characteristics are influenced by the ‘terroir’ – where it’s from, what the soil is like, how high the land is and what the weather conditions are, not to mention who produced it.

Revitalising, invigorating, calming, restoring, uplifting and simply delicious, the tea sourced by Lahloo is a completely different experience to the mass-produced tea made in huge factories purely for profit rather than quality.

Lahloo teas are all about taste and provenance and they will take you on an exciting journey through your senses. Whether it’s for your morning cuppa or for tea-based cocktails, Lahloo has a tea for every occasion, every taste and every pocket.

…and it is really healthy!

You’ll find all these in a cup of tea:

Flavonoids or anti-oxidants

♥        are found in all teas but the highest concentration is found in green and white tea

♥        help fight infection as well as keeping wrinkles at bay by neutralizing free radicals.

♥        called Catechins are the most powerful; they provide protection when cancer radiation treatment is used.

♥        called Polyphenols have antiviral, anticancer and antioxidant properties

Natural Fluoride (not to be confused with chemical fluoride)

♥        is found mostly in green and white tea

♥        prevents the formation of plaque on the teeth, which in turn helps to control dental disease.

Caffeine

♥        is found in all tea. Green and white tea are dramatically lower in caffeine than black tea which still only contains about half as much caffeine as coffee.

♥        in tea does not over-stimulate the nervous system, as with coffee, but gives a light refreshing lift

Vitamins

♥        high levels of soluble Vitamin C and has been shown to help with Vitamin C absorption.

♥        Thiamine B1, Riboflavin B2, Pantothenic Acid, A/B Vitamin compound and Niacin.

♥        Vitamin A and E

Minerals

♥        Iron, Copper, Zinc, Manganese, Potassium and Sodium.

Now you know! Enjoy every little healthy sip and take time to enjoy the good stuff.

Lahloo loves traveling

You can now find Lahloo Tea all over the place, from Glasgow to the Brecons to London and Devon! However, as much as we try sometimes you’ll need to take Lahloo with you. Maybe your friends haven’t found us yet, or we haven’t found that special hotel you know about or you want to enjoy Lahloo Tea at work.

We think the Tovolo tea infuser and our little red heart tins are just the thing to take your tea with you. The bright and funky infuser not only looks great, it is light and really easy to use – we love it (especially the little drip tray)!

PS If you can’t find Lahloo near you, tell us where you’d like to find Lahloo on the shelf or on the menu and we’ll try to add them to our list. Find out more here>>

WIN We are giving you the chance to win A pair of Real Food Festival tickets and Tovolo Tea Travel Kits - Tovolo infuser and our escape tea collection – with 3 runners up prizes of a Tovolo Tea infuser and a heart tin.

To enter simply drop us an email by 30th April 2010 and answer this question:
Q: Who discovered Earl Grey and when?

Lahloo loves real food!

Whether it’s really good tea, bread, cereal, cheese, wine, chocolate or vegetables only real food with nothing nasty lurking will do for us. So, we are joining over 400 fabulous producers and taking Lahloo Tea to the Real Food Festival, 7th-10th May 2010 at Earl’s Court, London. It’s a brilliant day out and I can’t wait to actually be involved (though I’ll miss nibbling all those amazing foodie treats as I wander round).

WIN We are giving you the chance to win A pair of Real Food Festival tickets and Tovolo Tea Travel Kits - Tovolo infuser and our escape tea collection – with 3 runners up prizes of a Tovolo Tea infuser and a heart tin.

To enter simply drop us an email by 30th April 2010 and answer this question:
Q: Who discovered Earl Grey and when?

PS The Real Food Festival will kick off a very exciting tea packed summer for Lahloo. We’re not quite ready to launch our tour yet but please watch this space or check our homepage as we’ll be tweeting, blogging and facebooking our whereabouts. We can’t wait to meet you.

Lahloo loves escaping!

“Every cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage...” (Catherine Douzel).

I’ve been lucky enough to get out into the Cotswolds recently to create tea lists for a couple of fabulous spa hotels and it got me thinking. If, like me you like to escape the stresses of daily life but don’t have the budget for luxury weekends away, why not curl up with a book and escape for a while with a cup of Lahloo tea? My little ritual is to make a pot of tea, put Paper Aeroplanes on my iPod and imagine I’ve escaped for a weekend in Paris. Well, I think I deserve it and I’m sure you do too!

A sense of calm begins as soon as you brew the tea. Pour water over the tea leaves and wait. As you inhale the gorgeous aroma, imagine that first sip of tea. And because tea is full of amino acids each cup of tea leaves you feeling calmer. How about trying one of our most calming and relaxing teas?
EARL GREY Happiness is…laughter, picnic with friends, the sun on your face and Lahloo Earl Grey! Probably not immediately what you’d think of but the essential oil of Bergamot we use is nature’s feel-good remedy! A natural anti-depressant; this is happiness in a cup!

GREEN MULBERRY Sensational! Green Mulberry is our super infusion. Whilst you sip and relax remember that this caffeine free infusion boosts immunity, lowers cholesterol and blood sugars, strengthens bones and more!

DRAGON PEARLS Just like the buds appearing in our garden, downy tea buds are beginning to blossom on tea bushes nestling in the Fujian mountains. In a few weeks they’ll be picked for you to enjoy. Just 4-5 pearls give you 5 cups jasmine white tea.

PS If you’re really lucky you could actually escape and still enjoy a cup of Lahloo Tea! Stay at The Rectory Hotel in the Cotswolds and enjoy a pot of Lahloo Tea at breakfast, in their gorgeous gardens by the pool or after lunch at their village pub, The Potting Shed.

“The Rectory Hotel, Cotswolds“

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Revive after a spot of Harvey Nichols shopping

On Saturday 17th April 2010 from 12 to 5pm come along to Harvey Nichols second floor food market and enjoy a refreshing cup of Lahloo Tea. The perfect pit stop to an afternoon of shopping!

Looking forward to sharing a cup of Lahloo jasmine Dragon Pearls, Darjeeling Second Flush andLahloo Breakfast tea with you.

Kate

PS You could always book into the restaurant for a decadent Chocolate Afternoon Tea with a pot of Lahloo Tea too! Book here

Bath celebrates cafe culture

So, the UK’s first coffee festival will be held in Bath on May 15th and 16th 2010 and we are taking Lahloo Tea along. You see in our eyes, if you appreciate a really good espresso, and I mean a really good espresso, then you can enjoy a cracking cup of tea too! You wouldn’t settle for a dusty insipid cup of coffee would you, so why are most people happy to sip a dusty brew? It’s about time people expected the same from their tea leaves as they do from their coffee beans and we are going to be there to help you.

Do you know anything about tea? Is it a world of unknowns? Don’t be scared, we’ll take you on a journey of discovery and help you find your cup of tea! We’ll help you fathom out the difference between green and white tea and black and oolong tea. We’ll be on hand to help you whether you want to swap your regular old brew for our reviving Lahloo Breakfast tea or you want to find something more unique. Maybe the delicate and fresh taste of Rosey white tea could tickle your taste buds! That’s the great thing about tea, each one is so different so you can find just what you’re looking for. Intrigued aren’t you?

It’s going to be a brilliant 2 day celebration of all things cafe culture and we’re really looking forward to introducing more people to the fabulous tastes and aromas of loose leaf tea. They’ll be loads going on including expert barista sessions, roasting master classes, latte art demonstrations, as well as educational talks, films about coffee and music from the coffee growing regions. So come along and say ‘Hello’ over a cup of tea and find out just how good tea should taste.