12 October 2010
Blending Christmas Tea
It is that time of year when customers are after our Christmas tea which is made to my own special recipe.
We use a high grown organic Fairtrade from the POABS biodynamic tea estates in Kerala in Southern India as the base. This is a lovely clean drinking black tea, while at the same time being mild in flavour without any maltiness or meadowy flavours coming through; therefore it is a wonderful base tea.
I take organic Fairtrade cardamom, organic Fairtrade cinnamon quills and organic Fairtrade cloves from the Small Organic Farmers' Association in the Kandy region of Sri Lanka. I then get some organic Fairtrade vanilla pods from the warehouse and chop these to about 1 cm in size. All of these are mixed together and then ground down to a 1 - 2mm chop. By grinding the whole spices in small batches, I can ensure that the quality of flavours is fresh and strong and that I am happy with their quality.
These are added to the tea together with some organic orange peel granules.
I mix it all together by hand, transfer it into sacks and leave to infuse with these gorgeous spicy flavours for a couple of weeks before testing and releasing for packing.
No additional flavours are added, no chemicals; it's just tea and spices, blended by hand in North Yorkshire by me. The final tea is a gently spiced, homely and warming for these darker evenings.
