Yesterday we as a company said goodbye to Tony Carter, a member of the Bell Tea & Coffee Company board, for this occasion we presented him with a very special tea.
We asked our key suppliers in Africa to find the best tea that Kenya has to offer at this point in time and we had subsequently had a few kilos flown over to us.
Weru Tea is currently the best of all the Kenyan Tea factories. It won best overall quality producer
in Kenya in 2009. It is located 220 KMs from Nairobi in Meru South District and is one of the closest factories to Mount Kenya.
Tea was first grown in this region in 1972, and Weru is the most modern tea factory in the area, serving
9500 smallholder tea growers. Weru is committed to the Ethical Tea Partnership.
The tea has diamond brightness, with a vibrant copper-gold colour when milk is added. It is one of
the most full-bodied teas in Kenya, fervent on the palate, with rich and creamy biscuit notes. It would
be the best tea I have tasted of this type in the last 20 years, and one of the top 20 of all time.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Auckland Barista Championships 2010
As a fan of all hot beverages, it was pleasing for me as the Tea Guy see the coffee team take centre stage on the weekend. The annual Auckland Barista Championships were hosted by the Bell Tea & Coffee Co at our East Tamaki office, as part of the build up to the National Finals in April.
The championships are an exciting explosion of colour, noise, nerves and exceptionally talented baristas. It is impossible to ignore the passion that the coffee industry has for its craft, and the seriousness with which these championships are taken. And indeed they should be, with the winner being flown to the World Barista Championships in London to represent New Zealand.
The baristas are required, in fifteen minutes, to make four espressos, four cappuccinos and four of their signature drinks. All the while they gain points for talking about the blend they have chosen - from its origin to its taste profile - while being filmed and rigged up to a microphone so the crowd can hear them clearly! No surprise that shaking hands and voices went hand-in-hand with outstanding coffee.
A big congratulations goes to David Huang from Espresso Workshop who took out the competition.
Finally, you’ll notice from the photos that our Coffee Master David Burton, and our Assistant Tea and Coffee Taster Amy Reason were both judges on the day, as they were in the Christchurch and Wellington heats. Congratulations to Amy who was selected, for her first time, to be a judge alongside David at the National Finals in two weeks time. A very big achievement indeed!
The championships are an exciting explosion of colour, noise, nerves and exceptionally talented baristas. It is impossible to ignore the passion that the coffee industry has for its craft, and the seriousness with which these championships are taken. And indeed they should be, with the winner being flown to the World Barista Championships in London to represent New Zealand.
The baristas are required, in fifteen minutes, to make four espressos, four cappuccinos and four of their signature drinks. All the while they gain points for talking about the blend they have chosen - from its origin to its taste profile - while being filmed and rigged up to a microphone so the crowd can hear them clearly! No surprise that shaking hands and voices went hand-in-hand with outstanding coffee.
A big congratulations goes to David Huang from Espresso Workshop who took out the competition.
Finally, you’ll notice from the photos that our Coffee Master David Burton, and our Assistant Tea and Coffee Taster Amy Reason were both judges on the day, as they were in the Christchurch and Wellington heats. Congratulations to Amy who was selected, for her first time, to be a judge alongside David at the National Finals in two weeks time. A very big achievement indeed!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
What does the Tea Guy drink?
Just realised that this is my first blog of 2010, I really must up my game! I have a back-log or should that be "back-blog" of ideas to share!
Still, being an ex-pom turned Kiwi one of the hardest things to get used to living in New Zealand is having Christmas and the New Year during summer. Christmas creeps up almost unawares, and then there is the "relaxing holiday" month of January juggling kids and, well kids, which seems to spit you out into February hurtling back into the hurly-burly of life.
During the last couple of months we have done quite a few tea tastings for external visitors and customers here at our tasting rooms at Bell Tea and I keep being asked what I drink, or what is my favourite cup of tea. One thing that strikes me these days is how tea consumers tend to drink different types of tea at different times of the day. Even within the growing Bell portfolio of teas I am conscious when developing the blends as to when certain teas might be drunk. For instance our most recent addition to our black tea range, Bell Indian Origin is great as an afternoon tea, one to savour, to really overcome all that your palate might have experienced through during the day.
It made me think though as to what do I actually drink during the day, so here is my rough routine. I always start the day with a cup of Bell Kenya Bold, without fail. I usually make this in a tea-pot whether it is leaf tea or teabags and very strong - that is how I like it. There is nothing like this to really get you going in the mornings. Now Stephen Twining would disagree with me as he sips his cup of Twinings English Breakfast and I wouldn't knock the strength and refined flavour for one moment, but for raw power and the ability to set me up for the day, Kenya Bold it is.
I usually have a coffee mid-morning aroung 11am after we have finished the morning's tea tasting, this is to try and appreciate the great coffees we have in our range, but also to improve my slightly dodgy barista skills! I usually have a double shot of fresh Gravity coffee with a small amount of milk. Now I'm sure there is a proper Italian word for this but I call it a "double-shot half flat white"
At lunchtime I usually have a green tea, and we have a lot of great ones to choose from, i love Twinings Green Tea with Orange + Mandarin, and also Twiste Kiwi from our "Live Tea" range, often though I might sip one from my library of samples. I tasted a great Oolong the other day which I have hidden away so no-one else can find it.
In the afternoon I will usually have a pot of India Orign tea there is nothing better than the Assam and Darjeeling flavours to revive me. Also, as these teas are seasonal and only available in a small window of production every year, I love seeing hoe the blend mellows and matures until the new season's teas arrive.
Finally, I alway finish my day with a cup of Twinings Peppermint, I find this very cleansing, good for my digestion and a great way of settling me for the evening.
So there is a rough journey through my tea drinking as opposed to tea tasting day.
Still, being an ex-pom turned Kiwi one of the hardest things to get used to living in New Zealand is having Christmas and the New Year during summer. Christmas creeps up almost unawares, and then there is the "relaxing holiday" month of January juggling kids and, well kids, which seems to spit you out into February hurtling back into the hurly-burly of life.
During the last couple of months we have done quite a few tea tastings for external visitors and customers here at our tasting rooms at Bell Tea and I keep being asked what I drink, or what is my favourite cup of tea. One thing that strikes me these days is how tea consumers tend to drink different types of tea at different times of the day. Even within the growing Bell portfolio of teas I am conscious when developing the blends as to when certain teas might be drunk. For instance our most recent addition to our black tea range, Bell Indian Origin is great as an afternoon tea, one to savour, to really overcome all that your palate might have experienced through during the day.
It made me think though as to what do I actually drink during the day, so here is my rough routine. I always start the day with a cup of Bell Kenya Bold, without fail. I usually make this in a tea-pot whether it is leaf tea or teabags and very strong - that is how I like it. There is nothing like this to really get you going in the mornings. Now Stephen Twining would disagree with me as he sips his cup of Twinings English Breakfast and I wouldn't knock the strength and refined flavour for one moment, but for raw power and the ability to set me up for the day, Kenya Bold it is.
I usually have a coffee mid-morning aroung 11am after we have finished the morning's tea tasting, this is to try and appreciate the great coffees we have in our range, but also to improve my slightly dodgy barista skills! I usually have a double shot of fresh Gravity coffee with a small amount of milk. Now I'm sure there is a proper Italian word for this but I call it a "double-shot half flat white"
At lunchtime I usually have a green tea, and we have a lot of great ones to choose from, i love Twinings Green Tea with Orange + Mandarin, and also Twiste Kiwi from our "Live Tea" range, often though I might sip one from my library of samples. I tasted a great Oolong the other day which I have hidden away so no-one else can find it.
In the afternoon I will usually have a pot of India Orign tea there is nothing better than the Assam and Darjeeling flavours to revive me. Also, as these teas are seasonal and only available in a small window of production every year, I love seeing hoe the blend mellows and matures until the new season's teas arrive.
Finally, I alway finish my day with a cup of Twinings Peppermint, I find this very cleansing, good for my digestion and a great way of settling me for the evening.
So there is a rough journey through my tea drinking as opposed to tea tasting day.
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