Say goodbye office and hello Central!

One of the things I love about twitter is the people I’ve met. As weird as it sounds to all of you out there who aren’t fans, I have met some great people. I have built really strong friendships, like me old muckers Dan @essesxeating (not to be confused with TOWIE) and Elly @pearcafe, as well as business relationships.

I recently met these two top chaps, Steve and James from @centralworking, when I replied to a tweet hunt for a cracking tea supplier to work with at their exciting new venture in London. I popped to the big smoke for a day and met with them to see how I could help. I loved their concept and less than a month later they’ve opened, I’m a member so I have a fab place to work from when I need to, and whatsmore they’re serving Lahloo Tea. Speedy!

When I was looking at launching Lahloo Tea I really struggled to find the right place to work. I had always worked with lots of people, both leading teams and well as looking after customers, in hospitality and retail and so to be stuck at home alone in my spare room-cum-office was a real struggle. But I just didn’t have the budget to pay for an office and neither was it very appealing having never worked in an office before! So I had to balance between noisy coffee shops and home and make do. Now, if there had been somewhere like Central I’d have joined in a flash!

I think it’s a wonderful solution to people who want to run their own business and want somewhere to do it and be able to meet people doing the same thing. Here’s what they say about Central. And I hope you agree, it’s a great concept!

We believe that there are endless opportunities to build the business or career you dream of. The problem is a lack of space, resource and inspiration to help you maximize this opportunity.

So we want to fix this. With your help Central’s going to be a place where you can find the people and essential things you need, when you need them, whether that be a desk, a friendly smile or a lovely cup of Mozzo coffee or a mug of Lahloo Tea.

We want to build a membership full of interesting, passionate and driven people who want to make the best of the opportunities the world has to offer, be that a new venture, a new connection or a bit of inspiration.

You’ll have had times when your office is too distracting, or when you’ve tried to “work from home” but found it too isolating. Maybe you’ve tried a coffee shop but it’s just not right, you can’t even go to the loo without losing your chair. So maybe a private members club, not if you want to print and bind documents, make a phone call, register your post, get a courier, or you need a USB key.

We believe it’s time for a change. Central provides a welcoming and collaborative place to meet, eat, work and be inspired. We are on the high street, just where you need us, and we want to be full of people who are passionate about their business, whatever that may be.

We’re a new concept, we know we’re not going to get everything right. We are going to launch in Beta, which means we want you to tell us what you think and much more importantly we are going to listen. We will be the world’s first physical Beta. So why not get involved and shape a better way to work?

We will be opening our first site, Central Bloomsbury, in London in April 2011 so please share your thoughts on how you work and what you need to help make sure Central is just how it should be.

Get involved at www.facebook.com/centralworking

Become a fellow member at www.centralworking.com – I’ll hopefully see you there one day, maybe over a cuppa!

Or say ‘hi’ over a virtual cuppa in twitterland here @centralworking and here @lahlootea

We love real food so much we’re ranting about it!

Whether it’s a mug of really good tea with a piece of real crusty bread and jam, a bowl of cereal, artisan 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 this weekend, 7th-10th May 2010 at Earl’s Court, London.

Not only can you come and say hello over a cup of tea at stand P152 but come and hear us rant! Last year we ranted with Rude Health, our favourite breakfast cereal people, at Abergavenny Food Festival. Listen here.

We’re off again so head to the Rude Health stage at the Real Food Festival on Friday 7th at 14:40h and see what gets us going!

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!

Indulgent afternoon tea at Liberty London

We are just updating our list of our fabulous tea stockists. They all share our ethos of serving and/or retailing sensational tea to match their other product offerings. Last year, we were so excited (jumping up in the air, kind-of excited) to receive an order from Kate’s favourite shopping indulgence, Liberty of London. And so, in the Summer we launched a bespoke range of Lahloo Tea at Liberty in the award-winning tea rooms.

Almost 4 years ago Kate sat in the tea room at Liberty dreaming of launching Lahloo. Now, in response to their customers, Liberty are retailing a range of gourmet teas and boutique tea infusers for the first time. Liberty tea sommelier, Freya Gabie, said: “Lahloo tea tastes absolutely fantastic. We really appreciate Kate’s connections with tea growers, her eclectic choice and the tea’s superb quality”.

The range includes Taiwanese Amber oolong tea as well as Mr Aoki’s green tea, and our unusual chatjans – South Korean hand-made, palm-size tea cups complete with their own infuser so you can explore different infusions of the same tea leaves.

We’ll be at Liberty regularly this year to help out with their wonderful tea-inspired events. Watch this space…

PS. If you’ve never been to Liberty, it’s a must-visit emporium of all things very special. Next time you go to London, Paris, New York or Dublin and you want to hunt out other unique and indulgent places to visit, my favourite book to pick up is The Goddess Guide by Gisele Scanlon. It’s packed full of inspirational and exquisite people, places and things – Kate loves it.