One of our lovely customers Susan recently sent us a charming image of our Drake's blend being enjoyed in truly beautiful fashion. Of course, we just had to share the image.
We can't think of a better way of enjoying a nice pot of tea, than sitting in the garden and making a real occasion of it, and Susan appears to agree.
We are always happy to receive images and feedback from our customers and cannot thank Susan enough for sharing this moment with us.
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This time we’re at Lopwell Dam talking to Jayne from The Old Pump House.
Where are we? The Old Pump House at Lopwell Dam
How long has the business been here? Four and a half years
What sort of things do you serve? We do breakfasts, light lunches (sandwiches, jackets, pain is etc), soups, gourmet burgers. Homemade cakes, flapjacks and scones. We try and locally source as much a possible and make as much as possible. We make all our cakes, scones etc. We also make our own soups, chilli, quiches and we even make our own chutneys for the ploughmans etc. We have a collection of vintage China which we can do beautiful, afternoon teas with( pre booking req) We also have a Friday night supper where we do a themed supper, outdoors on the beautiful terrace if we can
What's your favourite thing about working here? The view is simply amazing! No one else I know has a view like that when they are at work. I'm lucky, I do a job I love in an amazing place with lovely customers!
What’s the most popular item on your menu? Our homemade cakes and cream teas
Where is your favourite place in Plymouth? I would have to say Plymouth Hoe. Perfect place for a stroll.
Where is your favourite place in the Southwest? I love Saunton Sands beach. Huge long beach, golden sands and never really packed!
What's your favourite drink? Non-alcoholic, has to be a cup of tea, I drink gallons, mostly cold! But alcoholic has to be a very cold New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
Sweet or Savoury scone? Tough one as a we do a cream tea and a cheese tea (cheese scones, wedge of cheddar and pot of chutney). and I love that when they are just out the oven. But I would say a cream tea just tips it. Although I do quite often have one of each scone!
Jam or cream first? Cream every time.
How do you have your tea? Strong, tiny splash of milk, no sugar.
Any information for anyone who wants to visit you? Currently open 7 days a week from Easter 01752 695978 - final bit of info.....don't follow satnav! It will lead you astray
https://www.facebook.com/The-Old-Pump-House-167655993303923
Twitter @lopwelldam
]]>Jenny Tunley-Price with the first tea plants in the Walled Gardens at Maristow(Photo courtesy of Martin Hesp)
Slowly but surely, we’ve reclaimed ground, started to repair buildings and greenhouses, and have been growing all sorts of edible crops.
We sell most of our produce through Tamar Grow Local CIC, a social enterprise set up to reinvigorate market growing in the Tamar Valley, which used to be one of the primary market garden regions in the UK with produce being packed off on trains to reach the early morning markets in cities as far away as London and Manchester.
Tamar Grow Local CIC also support fantastic community growing projects such as helping communities set up allotment sites, community orchards and a beekeeping cooperative. (You can find out more about TGL here http://www.tamargrowlocal.org/ ).
It was through TGL that I first met the owners of Plymouth Tea . They asked if it might be possible to grow tea in Devon and, without knowing too much about it, I blithely said I didn’t see why we couldn’t give it a go...all we needed to do was buy some plants, give them approximately the conditions they would expect in their native situation and that shouldn’t be too difficult. I’d heard someone in Cornwall was growing it, so why not in West Devon? After all, tea comes from Camellias which do well in our damp and acid conditions, so why not? Our position here on the banks of the river Tavy should be about as ideal as is possible in the UK. In the major tea producing regions of the world, tea is grown in river valleys where the air is moister.
Well, it appears that there are Camellias and then there are Camellias….
You know Camellias – the dark evergreen bushes that produce flowers in Spring that look as if they’ve been carefully crafted out of tissue paper? They are all varieties of Camellia japonica, in other words, the Japanese Camellia, and the flowers are often as big as a tea cup in colours ranging from white through pink to red. Devon and Cornwall are strewn with them as they do well in our climate and there are hundreds of varieties.
Camelia japonica
Tea comes from Camellia sinensis, in other words, the Chinese Camellia, which is much less widely known and, as it turned out, much harder to find. I started trying to source 1000 plants about 2 years ago and at every turn, drew a blank. We’d almost given up hope when the lovely Phil Rusted from http://www.practical-plants.co.uk/ got in touch. He’d found 250 plants for us…much excitement in the office ensued!
So, we finally took delivery of the plants in September. They came in a huge wagon that struggled to get down the narrow lanes and certainly wasn’t going to make it up the steep drive to the gardens. We unloaded them down by the river and transported them up the drive in my battered little car (known locally as ‘The Compost Heap’) bootful by bootful. We were delighted to find that some of the pots contained 3 plants, meaning we had enough to plant out almost the whole of the Old Orchard, which amounts to about an acre of West facing slope. I chose this part of the garden because it’s important that the plants don’t get the early morning sun. If it’s bright and sunny when the dew is still on the leaves, the leaves scorch – in essence, the dew water acts like a lens on the leaf and heats it up, Remember that old cowboy trick of using a magnifying glass to start a fire with dried grass?
We were blessed with some sunshine as we duly planted them out. They are well grown plants, about 4 to five years old with good root systems and nice woody bases, which means they should have enough oomph in them to see them through the winter.
The soil around here is an acid clay loam, full of lovely organic matter. Camellias like acid conditions and they like a good fluffy soil – think of how springy a deciduous woodland floor is and you get the picture. We’ll keep adding leaf mould as a mulch, together with pine chippings to reduce the pH a bit further and fingers crossed, the plants will thrive.
So, a steep sided river valley; a west facing position so they don’t get scorched by the morning sun; nice acidic fluffy soil…the only thing they might need a little more of is shade, but I’ll talk about that in another post.
What can possibly go wrong…?
JTeaP
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These days, tea is thought of as a quintessentially British drink, yet it originally came from China, and the history of tea there goes back some 4000 years. Supposedly, the first tea was created quite by accident, with legend telling us that leaves falling from the Camellia Sinensis trees into the Emperor’s boiled water created the very first infusion. It is impossible to know if this is actually the case, but it is certainly true that tea was available in China many centuries before its arrival in Europe.
In fact, the first known mentions of tea drinking amongst Europeans only begin to crop up in the history books around the sixteenth century, and occur mostly from the Portuguese traders and missionaries living in the East at the time. However it was only when the Dutch began to encroach on these trade routes in the last few years of the sixteenth century that tea started to be shipped back to the West as a commercial import. A trading post in Java was established and tea soon became a fashionable drink for the wealthy Dutch.
Britain was a little slower to adopt this continental trend, but it was actually the fashionable coffee houses that first started to sell tea. The language used in their advertisements of the time suggest that tea started as a novelty item that was quite unfamiliar to the general populace. It was the Royal Family, however, that really brought the drinking of tea to the fore. When Charles II married Catherine of Braganza, the turning point occurred; a Portuguese princess, Catherine was extremely partial to a good cup of tea, and introduced it as a fashionable drink to the court – a trend that soon spread to the wealthy upper classes. It was at this point that the East India Company began to import tea into Britain, with the firstorder being placed in 1664.
From this point on, the British took to tea with great enthusiasm, with the drink gaining popularity in the coffee houses and within the homes of the upper classes. However, tea was far too expensive at this point in history to be adopted by the working masses. This was in no small part down to taxation; the first tax on tea was 25 pence in the pound, and in fact tax on tea was only abolished as recently as 1964. This high tax lead to a burgeoning illegal trade which imported up to 7 million lbs annually, which is even more impressive when contrasted with the official import figure of 5 million lbs annually! As the illegal tea trade was not subject to the same standards as the official tea put through customs and excise, this lead to adulteration, with old and used tea leaves being adding to different leaves to make a cheaper product, there were even reports of sheep’s dung being added to this mix to make a realistic colour for a substandard product. In 1784, the tax was cut to put an end to these problems, and tea became affordable.
The end of the East India Company’s monopoly on trade with China brought about a revolution, when tea started to be grown in India nearer to their base of operations. This cultivation of tea within a British colony was a great success and consumption of tea boomed with the advent of these new imported blends such as Assam and Ceylon. Annual consumption per head rocketed from 2lbs to 6lbs.
Since then, tea drinking has been firmly ensconced in the British psyche, with only rationing during the Second World War curbing consumption. To this day the main players in the tea trade are British companies, and with new research indicating that tea has a wealth of health benefits, we think it is safe to say that the Great British tradition of tea is here to stay.
Phew, after that whirlwind tour through tea history, we think it's time to reward ourselves with a brew of our finest Plymouth Tea!
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Don’t forget to offer your guest a biscuit or cake where possible as this is a most pleasant accompaniment to the fine cup of tea you have just masterfully served!
We hope that our guidelines have proved unnecessary, and that you already follow all of these steps as a matter of course, but we understand that as busy people you don’t always have the time for a full tea service. Not to worry; our Plymouth Tea will taste wonderful even if you skip a few of the steps listed above as it is designed to have a robust flavour and great depth. If you can spare a few moments though, we wholeheartedly recommend following the full procedure outlined in our How to Make Tea guide to really get the best out of your Plymouth Tea and make your teabreak a really special ceremony to be savoured.
How do you make your tea? We’d love to hear how you make your special cuppa! Why not let us know onTwitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest?]]>
High Tea
Contrary to popular belief and the aristocratic sounding name, High Tea did not originate amongst upper classes. In fact, the opposite is true; High Tea is a predominantly working class meal that was traditionally taken between 5 and 7pm – the time that labourers would arrive home from their physically demanding jobs. It was called High Tea because, in contrast to the cakes and tea at low coffee tables of the upper class Low Tea, High Tea was enjoyed at a high table – the dining table.
The foods enjoyed at High Tea were diametrically opposite to those at Low Tea. Low Tea was intended as a light snack to tide someone over until dinner. High Tea was an energy packed meal designed to sustain those who worked hard all day long. Instead of crustless cucumber sandwiches and petit fours, workers would dig in to meat pies, pickled salmon, cold cuts, bread and butter and jam. Tea, the beverage, was also drunk in copious quantities.
Low Tea
In the mid-1830’s, the Duchess of Bedfordshire was suffering from what we might today call a mid-afternoon slump. With a long gap between mid-morning breakfast and dinner at 8pm, she began to take a light meal in the afternoon, which consisted of tea, sandwiches and cake served at a coffee table in her room. She began to invite her friends to enjoy this meal with her and before long the practice had spread to the rest of the country as a social, afternoon meal.
And so Low Tea was born - the high class and quintessentially British tradition that is also known as Afternoon Tea. It couldn’t sustain a working class labourer, but was enough to tide over the leisure-loving ladies of the upper classes until their evening meal. The tradition is enjoying somewhat of a revival amongst the British public, but is used only as an occasional treat rather than a regular meal.
The differences between High Tea and Low Tea reflect some of the differences between the classes. Working people didn’t have time to take leisurely afternoon meals, in the same way the non-working classes couldn’t face a heavy meal at five o’clock when dinner was served at eight. Even today, modern workers tend to have ‘tea’ at around 6pm after work, with a biscuit and a cup of coffee to get them through the afternoon. These days, Afternoon (Low) Tea is the preserve of smart hotels for birthday treats, whereas High Tea (minus the actual tea) is still an everyday meal taken by millions of people.
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5. All tea comes from the same plant
All varieties of tea are sourced from clippings of a single tea plant - Camellia Sinensis. How the leaves are processed determines the type of tea, and there are literally thousands of possible varieties! Climate, part of the plant used, oxidisation and how the leaves are handled all contribute to the taste and quality of the tea. Thousands of cultivars have been produced from this single plant, and it’s thanks to the human imagination that we have the astounding choice in tea today.
4. Tea contains more caffeine than coffee
Pound for pound, tea leaves contain more caffeine than coffee beans. However, by diluting tea leaves more and using less per cup, our intake per drink is less. Some varieties of tea have more caffeine than others (black has more than white, for example), and even though it is possible to buy decaffeinated tea, it’s actually impossible to remove all traces of caffeine from tea leaves. However, as we throw the tea leaves away, this shouldn’t be a concern for the decaf drinkers amongst you!
3. Tea can be classified as a health drink
This is particularly true of green tea and varieties taken without milk or sugar. Tea leaves have a surprising amount of health benefits that can combat everything from stress and anxiety to heart disease and stroke. Tea is especially high in compounds that destroy free radicals, those cells that can damage DNA and lead to cancer. Not only that, but tea has been shown to help fight Parkinson’s Disease, and studies suggest green tea may reduce onset of neurological diseases like Alzheimer's – so get the kettle on!
2. The cup of tea is old
Humans have been drinking tea for at least 3000 years. It’s impossible to pinpoint exactly when we first began brewing tea leaves, but we know for certain that it began in China before 1000BC, and possibly around 2700BC. Legend has it that Chinese Emperor Shen Nong discovered tea by accident when leaves accidentally fell into his pot of boiling water. For a long time it was drunk only medicinally and initially spread to Japan, not finding its way to Europe until the 1600s.
1. The most expensive cup of tea will cost you £180
Da Hong Pao is a variety of Oolong tea that is rarely found for sale and is only offered in China to respected dignitaries and honoured guests. Supposedly the tea cured the mother of a Ming Emperor, who preserved the tea bushes the drink had grown on. Three of these bushes still survive today, and contribute to the incredibly high price tag. In addition, the leaves can only be harvested at particular times of the year, and the Chinese believe it is an incredibly powerful medicine. However, the price may make your eyes water a little, a 1kg bag will set you back almost $1 million.
]]>In-keeping with our existing approach both blends seek to maintain the utmost quality and flavour and provide tea drinkers with a real taste of luxury.
Our decaffeinated tea consists of some of the finest Indian and Kenyan teas to create a luxury decaffeinated blend that we hope will allow everyone to enjoy the taste of quality tea, minus the caffeine. Traditionally decaffeinated tea has a reputation for lacking in flavour, colour and strength which is why we have strived to keep the standard of this blend as high as would be expected from a Plymouth Tea.
The natural decaffeination process that we employ ensures that this tea still maintains its robust, rich and refreshing flavour, meaning that the drinker does not have to compromise on the quality when selecting our decaffeinated tea.
Likewise our new Earl Grey tea is a blend of fine teas which have been treated with natural oils of the Bergamot citrus fruit, which gives the tea a distinctive perfumed aroma and flavour. We are confident we have created one of the finest Earls Grey Teas available.
The story behind Earl Grey tea is an interesting one. Legend has it that the tea was created in the honour of the Prime Minister, Charles Grey (the 2nd Earl Grey) who helped rescue the drowning son of a Chinese mandarin while on a diplomatic mission. The mandarin was so grateful that he presented the Earl with the blend in 1803.
Delicately scented with Oil of Bergamot, you can smell the rich aroma of the tea before you have even opened the package. Our Earl Grey can be taken with or without milk or with a slice of fresh lemon for a refreshing and revitalising drink.
We hope that the addition of these new blends will provide our customers with more choice and will help us to give our trade customers a fuller selection of Plymouth Tea to keep their customers happy.
If you have tried either of our new blends or indeed any of our teas we would love to hear from you. Please feel free to send us your feedback either via the website, email or via our Facebook page.
]]>Clever Scientists found that tea offers powerful protection against blood clots that kill around 200 people every day in the UK.
Apparently, just three cups of tea a day can reduce the risk of a stroke by around 20 percent.
There have been many studies in the past highlighting the protective effects of tea, but hard evidence has until now been thin on the ground. The team from UCLA searched through a number of previous studies to carry out what they call 'meta-analysis', where the findings are combined to come up with more meaningful data.
The results published online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that people drinking the highest amount of tea a day - three cups or more - were 20 percent less likely to fall ill than those drinking less tea.
Previous studies by the same team found that black tea was just as effective as green tea, as antioxidants in both appeared to protect against the kind of damage to the body that causes heart attacks and strokes.
It's good to hear there is now scientific evidence to suggest drinking tea is good for you - in the Plymouth Tea office we get through a fair few cups a day, so hopefully we benefit from maximum protection. Now all we need is some studies on the positive effects of cake on weight-loss...here's hoping.
]]>Of course the star of the show is our tea! They have recommended Drake's blend but we would be so bold as to say that Mayflower and Armada would go down just as well with a slice of Christmas cake or a mince-pie.
We think a hamper is a great idea for a gift for Christmas.
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We here at Plymouth tea like to think that we listen to what you our very attractive and young looking customers want.
We have received many cheek blushing compliments about our tea since we launched in Feb(it doesn’t seem 5 minutes ago) and so we have decided to add to our own 3 unique blends for catering purposes.
Plymouth tea are proud to say that along with Drakes, Armada and Mayflower an establishment can now purchase the following:
In the new year we also hope to have added a selection of fruit teas. If you are interested in serving Plymouth Luxury Teas please call us for an informal chat on 01752 317467
The Plymouth Tea Team!
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This recipe will make 1 litre.
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There you have it - a great way to stay cool in the summer months. Enjoy!
]]>They' represent a membership of like minded businesses dedicated to providing good quality local food & drink. The association is committed to continuously achieving its mission 'To make Love the Flavour a nationally recognised brand for outstanding sustainable food and drink.'
Plymouth Tea is a passionate supporter of small and independent business’s and Food & Drink Devon share this passion.
We are the only traditional tea company in Devon.
Please visit our profile page, which will be updated soon.
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The Strand is a Vintage Tea Room named after the area where it is located which was developed around the time Sir Francis Drake sailed the High Seas. The cobbled thoroughfare, previously called The Strand was re-named New Street in 1581.
Drake, Armada and Mayflower blends are all available to purchase
]]>Cream Teas consist of a split Scone, Strawberry Jam , Clotted Cream and of course a pot of tea
We are the only tea company based in Devon, therefore if you want to have a cream tea make sure you insist on Plymouth Tea!
We will be launching later this month our ‘’Cream Tea by Post’’ section to our website so that you can order the most authentic Cream Tea in the world!
]]>The Photo below is of Rob Kluin who is the marketing director of Plimoth Plantation which is a wonderful national resource for historical research & preservation, they are a living history museum telling the story of the Wampanoag people & the Pilgrims in 1627.
You can read more by checking out their website www.plimoth.org We also sent some tea to the Plymouth MA chamber of Commerce.
So hopefully Plymouth Tea will be making a permanent move to the USA at some point in the future but for now we will have to keep crossing the sea.
]]>Every year I take a short holiday in beautiful mid Wales(not as beautiful as Dartmoor but a very close second). While I’m there I usually spend a day at the Royal Welsh Show which my father in law is vice president. While there in 2010 I struck up conversation with one of the directors of ‘Welsh Brew’ a tea of which I was not familiar however after listening to his story it struck me that living in Plymouth there was perhaps an opportunity to do something similar only as a hobby you understand(weekend farmers markets etc) so began a 2 year development process. Plymouth Tea was never designed to be a ‘county tea’ as there are hundreds of them and at that point there was already a Devonshire Tea(whom was run by Gavin and Debbie who are lovely BTW)
Plymouth Tea was conceived to be as Plymouth Gin is to the Gin Business, we have a shabby chic design and have a much larger range than any of the county teas. Plus having to compete long term with PG Tips, Tetley and the like was not something we wanted to do, we wanted to create a luxury tea that was the best in the business and we firmly believe we have done that, it may be a long road but we are ready for it
If you are interested in stocking or purchasing Plymouth Tea please gives us a ring.
PLYMOUTH TEA – why settle for standard when you can have luxury?
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As you are aware currently the UK climate is not ideal to grow tea with only one company in Cornwall successfully being able to produce small quantities. We at Plymouth Tea have never let a little thing like climate get in the way of achieving a dream!
With that in mind we have teamed up with Jenny and her project at the Walled Gardens of Maristow. If you haven’t been to this part of Plymouth then you are really missing out. Lopwell Dam is a small piece of Paradise and Plymouth Tea is currently being served by Jayne at her delightful Tea Room and restaurant ‘The Old Pump House’
The WGM is situated about half a mile along the river’s edge from Lopwell Dam and is a huge project that Jenny has undertaken to restore the whole area to its former glory. In partnership with Plymouth Tea we have decided to attempt to grow about an acre’s worth of tea. Hopefully this could see tea being grown in Plymouth for the first time.
If you would like more information on the Walled Gardens of Maristow please see their Facebook Page which can be found from the following link
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Walled-Gardens-at-Maristow/116187941615?id=116187941615&sk=info
“There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life.”
― Lin Yutang, The Importance Of Living
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We have been asked by a few of our customers if we do a loose leaf tea, currently we don't but we are looking at launching loose leaf sometime this year.
Keep Reading the Plymouth Tea Blog for updates
]]>Lorraine told us that the coffee produced by Owens is actually roasted on their premises in Modbury and we were shown the process which makes the unroasted beans in a delicious latte(sounds simple but it isn’t). Owens are very much like Plymouth Tea, a small high quality company which goes the extra mile to ensure that their customers have the ultimate experience.
We are proud to recommend Owens Coffee to all our customers.
]]>This now adds to the locations where Plymouth tea can be purchased. Lawsons is one of Plymouths oldest businesses having been founded in 1904.
Make sure if you are in Lawsons to pick up a box of Drakes, Armada or Mayflower blend.
]]>Katie is very excited by this and is out all next week meeting new perspective customers all keen to stock, sell and serve Plymouth Tea. If you are interested in meeting with us or selling Plymouth Tea please contact us and we will bundle Katie up and send her out to make you a cup of tea.
Also we now have our very stylish and luxury window stickers in. You can see below they look very nice indeed, if you serve Plymouth Tea then let your customers know!
]]>Also we are big fans of their ice cream gateaux’s which you can find on sale from their farm shops or in Tescos.
Plymouth Tea is also recommended by Langage farm as their number 1 luxury tea which is very kind of them but then again we can’t blame them for having excellent taste!
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Annies is the first establishment outside of Plymouth to sell Plymouth Tea and the first of many we hope.
Would you like to sell Plymouth Tea?
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