Tea Heroes 2012 – the results!

A few weeks ago we asked you to help us choose the Tea Heroes of 2012! First of all, we want to thank you all for your responses. We’ve already contacted the winner of a Tea Discovery tea taster set, so congratulations! Now it’s time to share the results! Hopefully this will help you discover a new tea -or maybe confirm that you were right about your favourites!

OPULENT BLACK ………………….. Spice Chai (32.4%)

Beating Bristol Brew by just one vote, the invigorating and comforting Spice Chai gets to the top of your trusted black teas!

INTRIGUING OOLONG …………… Orchid (36.1%)

This oolong is so stunning that even thieves love it! Our whole consignment of Orchid was stolen and we’re currently trying to source an alternative! True story. Too much Orchid love.

GALVANISING GREEN …………. Matcha (28.6%)

The mighty Matcha gets your vote, followed closely by Green Jasmine. Once you try Matcha there’s no turning back!

ALLURING WHITE …………….. White Peony (30.6%)

This seemed to be a difficult choice! White Peony, Snow Jewel and White Whisper got nearly the same number of votes.

HERBAL THERAPY…………….. Peppermint (28.6%)

The trusted English favourite beats the exotic Mulberry by just one vote!

 

Do you agree with the results?

Happy Christmas!

The Queen of Tea

Over ten centuries ago, the Chinese emperor Hui Zhong proclaimed it to be the culmination of all that is elegant. Lahloo founder Kate talks about why white tea is the Queen of Tea! Video by Raspberry and Jam.

Snow Jewel vodka cocktail

This sophisticated white tea and vodka cocktail is definitely one of our party season essentials. Refreshing, fruity and easy to prepare, it’s bound to score you bonus points with your guests because of the unexpected ingredient -tea, naturally! And not just any tea, but the purest, most refined kind!  For this cocktail we’ve used Snow Jewel, but try it also with White Whisper.

Ingredients

• 50ml Snow Jewel infused vodka
• 15ml Simple Syrup
• Soda Water
• Lime

Infuse 3g tea per 50ml vodka for about an hour. Strain the tea out.  Add the infused vodka and simple syrup over ice.

Top up the glass with soda and stir, squeeze in the lime and leave as a garnish.

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.

Tea and a good soak in the bath!

Hello it’s Kate here! I’ve just got back from a busy day driving here there and everywhere in the Cotswolds. I’m not complaining as it really is the most beautiful place to drive through! I felt really lucky and thought how lovely to escape the buzz and noise of the city as I pulled into the drive of the first gorgeous ‘contemporary-chic’ hotel I was meeting with (I will be back here soon to tell you about the hotel). The birds were chirping, there were little purple and yellow crocus nestled in clusters at the feet of the tree trunks and there were tiny little lambs baaing and bleating and wobbling around the surrounding fields. Bliss!

It seemed like a really long day of driving, talking, meeting new people, tasting tea, looking at numbers while at the same time trying to find spots of reception in such an unspoilt place to reply to urgent emails and phone calls and of course keep up with the world of twitter! So, it was lovely to arrive back, unload the car and land in a familiar place. All I fancied was a long soak in an indulgent bath, a  pot of soothing tea and a flick through my latest glossy magazine.

Kate's dream bath!

At the village shop I treated myself to a Green & Spring Indulging Bath Oil and candle –  comforting rose, sensual jasmine, restorative elderflower and restful clover – so that’s exactly what I did! And how good it was – even though I didn’t have a bath quite like my dream bath!

Green & Spring Indulging Home Candle

To top of my indulgent evening I made a pot of uplifting Rosey white tea to sip while I chilled out,  listed to the sounds of Paper Aeroplanes, flicked through RED magazine and soothed away the stresses of the day. I can’t recommend it enough. But, what would your favourite product, tea and music to wind down to?

Lahloo giveaway, simply tell us about your tea habit

We’ve just sent out our latest newsletter and we’re after your help.

For Bristol-based illustrator, Hannah Broadway (left), tea and a good book go hand-in-hand – “You never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me“ (C.S. Lewis). So true!

We’d love to know more about your tea habits, so we’ve devised a little survey to help. If you have 2 minutes to spare over a cup of tea, simply click below. As we’re really nice peeps, we’ll give the first 50 of you £5.00 off you next tea order to say Thank you!

Click here to complete our mini survey

Tea tasting at Arch House Deli, Bristol

Lovely food emporium

We will be tea tasting on Saturday 6th February at the lovely Bristol deli, Arch House Deli.

The deli has been a long time fan of Lahloo tea, in fact they’ve been stocking them from the outset. Anyone entering the Deli recently can’t miss the beautiful dedicated stand of Lahloo Tea. They have recently extended the range of tea and now also stock the fantastic Forlife Stump teapots (the name really doesn’t do them justice) that they use in the café.

Drop in on Saturday 6th and try some of the range – delicious black tea, rare oolong tea, uplifting rose and jasmine tea, rare Korean green tea, special Chinese white tea and digestive infusions – and find out more about Lahloo fantastic teas.

See you there!

Take a leaf out of this lady’s book!

Perhaps the USA isn’t best known for its consumption of tea, but we have caught up with one American woman who has truly embraced the tea world in all its loose leaf glory. Her name is Meagan Lopez, or as others have grown to know her, The Lady Who Lunches. As the snow is finally beginning to melt, we ask her what has drawn her to welcome with open arms a typically English tradition such as tea drinking into her sphere, and why she is of the opinion that tea is bigger than ever in the states.

We begin the interview sipping a newly infused Snow Jewel silver needle white tea in the Arch House Deli in Clifton Village, and we get to chatting…

The Lady who Lunches!

When were you first introduced to tea?

Although coffee was the predominant drink of my adolescence, when I moved to California for University I found that coffee just wasn’t cutting it any more. Not only did it give me the worst breath known to man, it also left me with throbbing headaches and stomach pains. I needed something to keep me awake to study but without the bad effects. Plus, Californians are very healthy people in general, and I was quickly brought up to date with the benefits of drinking herbal teas, green teas and white teas. I started introducing it into my lifestyle pretty much immediately.

What is it about tea that has kept you a fan after all this time?

Honestly, there’s nothing better. As a woman, there are more benefits to drinking tea than we have time for me to explain. I find that I feel more energized after drinking tea. If I want to diet, green tea serves as a great appetite suppressant. If something I’ve eaten isn’t processed well, peppermint tea is the most amazing digestive. It’s soothing, healing and brings me back to life after a big night out. Plus, black tea has just enough caffeine to give you that lift.

The thing I’ve been the most impressed with since finding Lahloo are how natural and vibrant the ingredients you use are. I mean, to be able to look at the tea mixture and pick out the actual leaves, the chamomile flowers, the cinnamon sticks in the Chai tea. It amazes me. This may sound completely ignorant, but I don’t think I really realized that tea came from actual leaves until I was introduced to you guys. Ridiculous, right?

Thanks Meagan. Watch this space, we’ll be delving into more tea journeys…

The perfect stocking fillers!

It’s even chillier than last time I wrote! I hope you’re keeping warm and that your Christmas plans are coming together. I am so looking forward to a fabulous feast on Christmas Day and a long walk in the woods on Boxing Day. But, I’ve still got so much to do it seems a million miles away! If you have too, don’t panic! Click here to see our little collection of some of our favourite stocking fillers. I hope you find some inspiration!

Happy Christmas from Lahloo

And don’t forget:
♥ order 3 or more pouches and we’ll deliver them free
♥ just email us and we can wrap them for you!
♥ order until 1pm Monday 22nd December by 1st Class or 1pm on Thursday 23rd December by Special Delivery in time for those stockings.

Enjoy your Christmas and here’s to a fabulous 2010!