POPULARI-TEA: The Rise of Loose Leaf Tea?
- Maria Gran
- Apr 3, 2018
- 3 min read
It is a grey morning on Rose Street, but the bright blue colours inside the eteaket concept store do a good job of brightening up the day. There is a wall full of blue boxes containing all the teas you could ever dream of, from Earl Gray to Rooibos, it offers something for everyone.
The opposite wall boasts bright colours and any tea-related equipment you could ever need. Mugs and pots from floor to ceiling, in a carefully thought out and inviting layout.
And wandering around the store with her trusty KeepCup is manager Sophie Jones.
Originally from New Zealand, Sophie has been living in Edinburgh for nine months, thoroughly enjoying her job at eteaket. “Because I have always loved tea, for me, working in a tea shop is like working in a sweet shop. We’re always bringing in different teas and I try different teas all the time, it’s really good fun.”
She reveals that tea is probably the only thing she drinks now, whether it be hot or cold, her water is infused with tea somehow. Working so closely with a drink so common evokes interesting thoughts many of us never encounter. Learning to truly appreciate tea is one of the many things you do while working in a teashop.
“I think when you drink tea, you think you know everything about it, but you start working in a teashop and you learn how it’s properly made. There is a world out there where people’s livelihoods are tea, they’re brought up and educated on tea estates. They start working there and they all have individual roles. Someone looking in from the outside might think it’s low-level work, but these people are masters in their craft.”
Sophie words it very well. Tea is not just something you pick and it ends up in a bag somewhere, there’s an art to it. More and more people are starting to appreciate the qualities of drinking tea.
“People are starting to take a step back and look at what is really good for them. Coffee might give you a headache, so tea is a good alternative to that. It still has caffeine in it and will give you energy, but it’s going to bring you down nice and slow. People are starting to realise tea can be put into their diet as a healthy alternative to so many other drinks.”
Because of the ‘coffee culture’ in the UK and across Europe, high quality teas are often overshadowed by coffee. While the UK is widely known as a tea drinking nation, numbers from the International Coffee Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations show that even here, coffee is more popular than tea. Yet Sophie thinks tea is on the rise.
“I think tea will get to the point where it’s highly regarded. It’s really popular in a small group at the moment, but it can grow. When people look at other aspects of their life, like wanting to eat organic produce, they will start thinking about the quality of the tea they’re drinking, so we are getting more people who are interested in high quality teas.”
Quality comes at a price, however. If you are used to buying a pack of 100 basic teabags at your local supermarket, adjusting your budget to the prices in an independent teashop might take some time. Yet it might just be something you have to live with in order to appreciate the tea fully.
“From a high-quality tea, you’re getting so much more for your money. You’re getting what you really want from the tea, all the goodness and the flavour that it has.”
Because of her passion for tea, it is clear that Sophie wants to share the wonders of loose-leaf tea with other tea drinkers and tea explorers. Despite this, the first sound she makes when asked what her favourite tea is, is a loud sigh.
“I get asked this a lot,” she smiles. “I always say it changes. But I’ve always been a fan of green tea, so I’ll drink it till the day I die probably.”
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