Tea by two proves a winner as business starts to boil

Ann from Doncaster set up The Tea Experience, originally selling traditional China teapots, after being inspired by a gift from her husband, Paul. The business is expanding and now offers a complete tea drinking experience from imported loose tea to teaware and gifts.

Recovering from breast cancer a few years ago, Ann was looking for a new direction which would give her the quality of work and lifestyle balance she wanted and with support from Paul, she established The Tea Experience.

What is surprising about Ann’s new venture is that she has transformed herself from not drinking tea to being a tea guru, having trained with international tea masters in London.

The company offers loose tea from China, Indian, Sri Lanka, Africa, New Zealand, Hawaii and even Cornwall.

The husband and wife team have been lucky enough to travel and work in the Far East, mainly in China, over a number a years.

Each trip provided the opportunity to try a variety of teas which often made them question the quality of what they were drinking back at home. The actual turning point was the gift of a Yixing purple sand China teapot. After learning more about them and frequently being asked by friends where they could buy one, the enterprising couple decided to sell the teapots themselves. It was only natural that a small range of teas was added.

Its latest launch, an artisan tea, is causing a stir. The Flowering Tea Bloom, a blossoming beverage handmade to order for the company by an award-winning producer in China, offers top quality blooms ensuring customers get the benefit of both great tasting tea and a stunning floral display too.

The blooms are skilfully made with silver needle green tea, a tea variant with leaves that are long and slender rather than the usual Camilla Sinesis leaves. This tea also has a very fine coating of silver hairs which give the tea blooms a distinctive greyish appearance before it is infused.

The tea leaves are sorted by size and then made into miniature hand-sewn bouquets with the dried flowers at the centre.

The Chinese believe that the flowers may also have health benefits, in the same way we drink flower teas in the UK, so combining this with the known benefits of green tea makes a refreshing and healthy drink.

“After appreciating the quality of some loose teas versus teabags on our travels, it has become our passion and goal to encourage others to try loose tea. We want our customers to enjoy a whole tea experience from trying the very best quality loose teas in the most beautiful traditional teapots. We are still very small, but I can’ believe that my hobby of selling teapots is now growing into a viable website business.”

* www.teaexperience.co.uk