Last night i made a presentation for Belfast City Council on how I started my website. We are currently on the move to a Magento style platform that makes the operations behind the scenes much easier. The presentation went very well although a bit brief but the room responded well by asking lots of questions. Namely, what would you do better next time? We now have that opportunity and with the help of Jason, Andrew and keith the website guys. We hope that Suki Tea will be recognised as a one stop shop for all tea needs and a bit more.
Launch date............soon.

I have just returned from a very romantic weekend away with Samantha to Prague.

We had set to visit lots of tea houses as it was almost 5 years ago that Samantha and i along with Annie and a few others were there and that's what we did, well Annie and I did.

The romance bit was getting engaged, almost everyone knows now so I'm okay to put this down officially but that's not the point of this story.

As I had mentioned we had set to visit lots a tea houses but didn't manage as many as i would have liked, we did have other things on our minds.

This place was just down from our hotel, Hotel Neruda, great stay! which was right underneath the castle. (Great views of the city)

Samantha wearing one of our new Sharon Hay Teacup necklace.
Our room in Hotel Neruda. . . . . and a flying cup of tea.
It was that cold in Praha that I had icicles from my chin.
Prague Original Tea house.
They had a fantastic range of tea, it would have been as inspiration to see 5 years ago when we we're researching tea houses in Prague.

Ode to Banksy. 2009. Oscar Woolley

My image of Banksy drinking tea.

Banksy was recently quoted in the Bristol Evening post why he chose the Britol Museum to show his latest work he replied "I could have taken the show to a lot of places, but they do a very nice cup of tea in the museum." The museum sells SUKI TEA.

Earthy Goodness. www.earthy.co.uk

http://www.earthy.co.uk/

I was in Edinburgh for a couple of days the other week and managed to get chatting to Pete Jackson of Earthy. Situated on Ratcliff Terrace just off Minto St (aka, north street/Nicholson st/clerk st). It's a haven of goodness. MAP

Pete showed utter enthusiasm for what him and his business partners Chris, Dirk, and Patricia do, which is source great food from passionate produceers, growers and makers. An environment has been created which food lovers will. . .well, just love. I was with another self confessed food lover, we both had a bite to eat in the cafe area which we both agreed was well above standard. I have been to a few places now that have tried to achieve what Pete and Co have fully accomplished. Can you tell that I liked it! A must visit, and yes. . .they sell all Suki Teas Fairtrade range. Apparently Fairtrade Organic Earl Grey Blue Flower is the most popular choice there.

www.goodfoodni.com peoples choice award. Enter your vote (for SUKI TEA) for a chance to win a hamper.

We need your voted today. I think voting will close early next week. VOTE NOW

Vote for Fairtrade Belfast Brew and be in with a chance of winning a beautiful hamper, bursting with tasty local treats!

The winner (hopefully SUKI TEA) will be announced at the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association Award ceremony on 13th March 2009.We hope that you'll support us and get voting for Belfast Brew. Just follow the link to VOTE NOW and click on Belfast Brew. It may take a minute but every vote counts! VOTE NOW

OSCARS PREDICTIONS

Not so much the Oscars movies award’s, more my personal predictions for what is up and coming in the world of tea. My definitive guide to what is going to be hot (quite literally) in 2009.

MY TOP 5 DRINKS TO LOOK OUT FOR

SUKI TEA London Fog
Not something from the backdrop of Sweeney Todd, but a drink invented to support Fairtrade Fortnight, 23rd Feb – 8th March. It’s made with a strong quarter cup of Earl Grey (preferably Suki Tea Organic Fairtrade Earl Grey Blue Flower), topped with steamed milk. Add vanilla essence or honey to sweeten. This is a ‘Tea Latte’ and is delightfully refreshing.

Theatrical Teas
The drama queen of teas. A chestnut sized bundle made of hand sewn fine white tea. Added to a large glass, small jug or glass teapot, the tea majestically unravels to produce a bouquet of tea leaves, sometimes centred with a flower. A great dinner party piece and above all the tea is very tasty. I have seen these popping up all over the UK in restaurants and I think they will be a big hit this year.

Matcha Latte
The movie star’s choice. This took a slow start last year but I can see its popularity catching on as the health benefits are huge. More on Matcha and health.

Chai Latte
Following the success of the Danny Boyle’s fantastic Slumdog Millionaire I’m positive that Chai will be even more popular in 2009. To get the proper Chai experience forget synthetic syrup’s and opt for the original loose leaf tea and spice blend. Chai is best made with pure milk and honey simmered in a saucepan. A very comforting and refreshing tea.

Loose leaf ‘tea to go’
It was about four years ago that we were approached by Coffee Yard in Holywood (that’s Holywood Co Down, not Los Angeles) and asked if we could supply tea for their opening. They were our first wholesale customer and it is amazing to think how far Suki Tea and the perception of loose leaf tea have come. More and more café’s, deli’s and restaurants are choosing to ditch the dusty teabag and rather opt for quality in the form of loose leaf tea.
Even ‘Tea to Go’, fresh tea for when you’re on the move, has been made simple by the use of the Tea Pocket. These are empty teabags which support using loose leaf tea. Tea Pockets are ideal for café’s and popular if you want to take an individual sachet to work.

Suki gets a Facebook page

Suki Tea wins 'Go for it' Award.

Wow, not only was Suki Tea shortlisted for the 'Go For It' awards last night we actually won! We we're told about a week ago that we we're one of the Belfast Top 50 companies 2008. Of those 50 a handful of 5 companies received a special recognition award - Suki was one of those 5.

Wow, not only was Suki Tea short listed for the 'Go For It' awards last night we actually won! We we're told about a week ago that we we're one of the Belfast Top 50 companies 2008. Of those 50 a handful of 5 companies received a special recognition award - Suki was one of those 5. Fifty businesses which fly the flag for the new Belfast we're honoured in a special Stormont celebration last night, The event was organised by the Belfast Media Group in association with BT. The Belfast Business Top 50 will paid tribute to entrepreneurs and business leaders who are role models within their communities, creating wealth and jobs in challenging economic times.” The fourth annual Belfast Business Top 50 will not only acknowledge the contribution of our business titans but also those small business champions who are making a difference in underserved areas of Belfast and whose innovation and grit is worthy of recognition,” said Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, MD of Belfast Media Group.

When the announcement was made I eventually managed to compose myself and get to the mic to let the crowd know how happy I was to accept the award on behalf of the company. So . . . thanks to the fantastic team of dedicated tea lovers working for Suki Tea, thanks to Invest Northern Ireland for their support. I had really wished my business partner, Annie was there to make a speech as she has a great way with words but as she's just about to give birth it was probably a bit inconvenient. It was only a couple of weeks ago I was heading to London to collect our guild of Fine Foods Great Taste Regional reserve award. We had better stop winning awards and start selling some tea!

Photo's to follow. . .

The best pudding in the world, SUKI TEA deliveries and a visit to Salisbury Cathedral.

Samantha and I visited James St South restaurant for our anniversary dinner before heading out to see the Flaming Lips in Belfast. A desert worthy of a photo. I'll be saving up and heading back there as soon as possible. Delish! (nice ring Samantha!)

Another delivery of tea leaves the warehouse heading for Scotland.

Holy Tea.

Just back from a visit to Salisbury Cathedral cafe who have just made the upgrade to SUKI TEA. A mighty building if ever I've seen one. They are serving up our great taste award winner Belfast Brew

Maid Marians herbal tea masterclass.

For those of you who didn't know Annie is pregnant. Annie and her partner both over the moon and are moving out of Belfast to the country side to set up family. Lots of people have been asking Annie what teas to take when pregnant. Most of us know that avoiding caffeine and alcohol is recommended but what of teas? As a taster of heading out to live in the sticks and to buff up on our herbal tea blending skills Annie and I booked ourselves into a workshop and lecture with Marian Partridge, a medical herbalist from Downpatrick, Northern Ireland with over 13 years experience in herbal blending as well as other alternative therapies such as Reiki.

-Annie and Marian in the herbal clinic-
My day started very relaxed with a cup of sage tea and Annie was advised not to go near sage but to drink raspberry leaf tea instead. Even though many think of raspberry leaf tea for inducing labour it can help all the way through apparently. For a relaxing tea throughout Rooibos or Red Bush is also recommended.
Before I had realised I had a wealth of knowledge before I had even finished my cuppa. Marian had prepared the day in a way to suit all who attended of which there we're 5 of us altogether.

- Annie looking very calm and serene (and pregnant!) in the ash woods at the bottom of the garden.-
As well as keeping bees Marians garden is her source of ingredients for her tinctures, balms and herbal teas. We harvested some lemon balm and elderflower for a tincture. We drank elm, birch and hawthorn tea, Made a skin cream from Marigold flowers and amongst other things like discussing what tea herb does what for our bodies we all enjoyed a superb lunch in the baking sun of which most was fresh from the garden we we're sitting in. The day progressed at a calm pace and we managed to cram a lot in.
Marian had a patient in while we we're there and a boiled mixture of dock leaves (i think) was stuffed into tea pockets that we had provided earlier in the day to the ladies hip. The treatment room was very organised and to the standard of what you would imagine for any treatment room with the exception of her medicine cupboard. Instead of the standard cupboard full of white bottles of multicoloured pills there stood a wall of jars full of weird and wonderful plants, herbs, roots and flowers. Frankincense and Myrrh, bilberries, ginseng and fugain tea, green tea, rose petals, elder flowers, peppermint, nettle, purple sage and many more.
Most of these we're collected by Marian herself. Grown locally or requested by fellow herbalists across Europe.
The day was wonderfully relaxing and we finished by giving Marian some SUKI TEA Fair-trade Belfast Brew. We had learnt a lot about what herbs and their wonderful healing powers. Especially what to take and what not to take when you're pregnant. Raspberry leaves and Rooibos (red bush) apparently.

Okay, I have not sent this one from my phone but wanted to let you all know about Red Berry and how it makes a fantastic ICE TEA.
Using SUKI TEA RED BERRY. makes one pint.
Infuse 3 teaspoons with boiling water as making a regular cup of tea.
Add honey or 3 teapoons of sugar to taste.
Leave for 5 mins. Stir.
Pour over a pint glass full of ice.
Enjoy! Best with a straw.

Mint Sourcing.

All photos taken are from my phone camera.
I'm back from a mint tasting and sourcing trip to Morocco, I was kind of on holiday but with running a business that you love you just can't say no to this kind of opportunity.

I managed to bargain a taxi to take me to Lhagmbark which is 20k south of Marrakech, an area that is renowned for its spearmint growing. It's the region where the majority of our Nana Mint comes from. With a 40 minute discussion in broken French and Arabic the 20 guys who took charge of organising my trip decided that Sadek was the best man for the job. He only spoke Arabic and I only speak a bit of French so the chat on the way there was non existent. Not that I had time to chat between holding on for my life and praying for a safe arrival, safety on the roads was of no concept to this man, as lovely as he seemed his driving was insane! He once overtook a lorry that was overtaking a bus and if that wasn't bad enough there was oncoming traffic too. I managed to make it there in one piece, slightly shook up from the experience I was immediately re focused on the reason I put myself through that. The smell hit me before we even got out of the car, I stepped out and took a good look around, the vast Atlas Mountains spread along the horizon and sat as a backdrop to the endless fields of fresh vibrant green mint. Overwhelmed by the minty smell I was ushered to the owner of the fields by my taxi driver/guide (if we can call him that). Luckily a passer by who spoke French decided to join us, mainly out of interest, and he acted as my translator.
Abdulkalif was the owner of the place, he had about 10 men and women working for him and they all seemed very happy to stop picking to come and say hello. We weren’t getting very far with the conversation and to be honest I think they thought I was a bit mad but with the help of the translator they understood why I was there and once the tea was brewed all had something uniting us. One of the younger guys who must have been about 25 stood up and ran into the fields to pick some mint, ran back and stuffed it into our glasses, the green tea was poured over and a bucket of sugar was dropped in. I felt a strong sense of camaraderie between the pickers and realised I had become welcomed into their gang temporarily. The mint was eye wateringly fresh and after about 15 minutes of sipping it the pickers stood up, all gave me a hug and we're on their way. The younger man who fetched the mint gave me a huge bunch of fresh mint, a sample of dried mint and rather theatrically said something that I hope was 'nice to meet you' but it could have been absolutely anything. The owner and I exchanged business details, parted with a smile and the customary hug and I was on my way back to Marrakech with mad max at the wheel.

I can happily say that the trip was a success and has given me a new view on the ceremony of tea drinking, I have known for years that tea brings people together. The first thing you ask if a friend comes to visit is ‘shall I put the kettle on?’. If someone feels down a common response is 'Go on, I’ll make a cuppa?'.

Sharing that mint tea with the pickers last week didn’t need conversation, we couldn’t converse anyway. It didn’t need comfy surroundings, although the view was stunning. It was purely and quite simply about sharing some tea and it will be hard to drink a cup of mint tea again without grinning from ear to ear.

BUY MOROCCAN MINT - CLICK HERE: buy mint

Mint tea. Morrocan style.

Green tea with a fresh bunch of spearmint (Nana Mint) added.

Tea tasting with new customers.

Me giving a demonstration to some newly converted loose tea SUKI TEA lovers.