A video of us explaining how Invest NI helped SUKI TEA defy the economic downturn by investing in online technology.

Love a cup of cha? A wee drop in the han’? A bountiful brew?

The SUKI TEAm are gearing up for Christmas – with the all important booze up booked, it’s now time to get organized for the market, and we need YOU!

We’re looking to grow the Suki Clan to help us at our stall in the Belfast Christmas Continental market running Saturday 19 November - Monday 19 December 2011. We’re looking for friendly bubbly personalities, a big smile and a love for proper tea. You’ll be the face of Suki, brewing “tea as it should be” and selling teas & gifts to the excited Christmas shoppers.

The days will be split into shifts, pay is £7.00 per hour and you can earn yourself 5% commission on all sales! Are you our perfect brand ambassador – drop us an email with contact details, cv, availability and telling us in no more than 100 words why you’re the person for the job. Email esme@suki-tea.com no later than Friday 28^th October 2011.

More information on the market can be found here - http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/events/christmascontinentalmarket.asp

Annie and I spent a good few days earlier this year on a source trip to Tanzania where almost half of the black Fairtrade tea we bring in to make up the Suki Fairtrade Belfast Brew and Suki Fairtrade Breakfast Tea. 

We wanted to find out if Fairtrade really meant to the people actually picking the tea and learn about the tea process in more depth. 

Here are a few photo's from our trip. ( i need to learn how to upload these so they will be added later)

1)Half woman, half tea

Annie waist deep in bright green tea bushes. The tea in this picture is ready for plucking and these bushes would be the originals planted over 50 years ago in the Luponde Estate (as opposed to the more uniform clonal varieties).

2)Step #2 – Withering

Miles of freshly-plucked tea being loaded off brightly-coloured trucks and distributed carefully and evenly. Hot air is pumped underneath the leaves to commence the withering process (approx. 18 hours)

3)Belfast Brew is well-travelled

A bag of Fairtrade Belfast Brew enjoying the view from a small 12-seater plane in the never-ending African skies high above the Livingstonia Mountains, Tanzania.

4)Deep in discussion

Tastings at the Fairtrade Luponde Tea Gardens. Annie and Robin discussing the finer details of our finest teas.

5)

With a Camillia Sinensis flower tucked behind my ear and twirling my first ever hand-picked tea between my fingers... well ... the smile says it all!

6)

Kibena Tea Estate was the last stop for us. The most modern tea garden of Mufindi Teas, this vast estate is planted on the plains with tea as far as the eye can see.  They only produce tea destined for teabags here at this garden but it was interesting to see the processes involved and, of course, taste  more tea with Robin and the managers, 

Our orders are shipped according to the following delivery charges...

If you require next day delivery, please contact us. orders@suki-tea.com

Date: Friday 27 - Monday 30 May 2011
Venue: Belfast City Hall grounds

Almost 100 traders from across Europe will once again return to the grounds of Belfast City Hall for another weekend of food, drink and great entertainment at the annual Spring Bank Holiday Continental Market.

Opening hours

Food and drinks

• waffles, crepes and macaroons
• milkshakes and ice cream
• handcrafted cheeses
• homemade taramasalata, houmous and olives
• bratwurst sausages and burgers
• curry sauces.

Products

• plants and shrubs from Holland
• crafts and gifts from China and Thailand
• beads and bracelets
• handmade Russian dolls
• fabulous French fashions
• wooden artefacts from Kenya.

LOVE TEA?
VOTE SUKI

http://www.nigoodfood.com/survey.aspx

As part of Young Enterprise Northern Ireland this morning I had the opportunity to give a talk to Year 9 class at St Dominics Grammar School about starting a business.
I focussed on Facebook and how we can use it to get feedback from our customers.

As part of this talk I got the teams of students (budding entrepreneurs!) to design a name for a possible re-brand of Suki Tea's classic Red Berry. 

These are the final  

Berry Unique
Sweetie Sis
Boom Boom Berry
Lady Rouge
Mad Berry Burst
Berry Shower

The winning tea will be decided on Friday 11th at 5pm so get voting on Facebook

Regards,
Oscar

My tea cocktail of the day.

Prosecco Oolong.
    Make a strong Oolong with little water, hot not boiling. 
    Strain after 5 mins and let cool.
    Add about 2cm to a glass of Prosecco.
     Enjoy. 

If your up for something a little more challenging try this one. From this mornings BBC Something For The Weekend show. . . .  

Earl of Manhattan

Earl Grey-infused bourbon whiskey gives this cocktail a winningly complex flavour.

Ingredients

• 1 Earl Grey teabag

• 50ml/2fl oz bourbon whiskey

• 2 dashes peach bitters

• 2 tsp peach syrup, or crème de pêche liqueur

• 25ml/1fl oz sweet vermouth

• twist lemon peel, to garnish

Preparation method

1. Place the teabag (or loose leaf tea)  into a cocktail shaker, pour in the bourbon, stir for 20 seconds then remove the teabag. (or strain)

2. Add the peach bitters, peach syrup (or crème de pêche liqueur), sweet vermouth and a handful of ice and stir well.

3. Strain the cocktail into a tumbler filled with ice and garnish with the twist of lemon peel.
   
   

Arrived in London on Tuesday. Met the folk at the Barbican who are now selling SUKI TEA next to their Monmouth coffee. Nice pairing up there. . . although there are other great coffee's available.
If your near the Barbican, not that you need an excuse to go, check out the cafe and teh foodhall. The interior design is class. I'll post some images once I learn how to use this new blog!

Ditty's Bakery and Suki Tea on BBC4

Shiela Dillon on Northern Irish produce and how Suki Tea has teamed up with Robert Ditty to co brand a 'Moist Irish Tea Cake'.
*BBC RADIO4 - LISTEN AGAIN*

*BBC RADIO4 - LISTEN AGAIN*

Welcome to SUKI TEA competition page.
We currently have no competition running.
Watch this space. . .

ETHICALLY SOURCING TEA

ORGANIC POLICIES

The Organic Food Federation was established in 1986 and is now one of the UK’s leading certification bodies operating nationally in all areas of organics.

FAIRTRADE

The four main selling teas we have are Fairtrade. Amonst other Fairtrade teas we continually try and source more Fairtrade products.

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/

“Fairtrade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Its purpose is to create opportunities for producers and workers who have been economically disadvantaged or marginalized by the conventional trading system. If fair access to markets under better trade conditions would help them to overcome barriers to development, they can join Fairtrade.”

Fairtrade is a tool for development that ensures disadvantaged farmers and workers in developing countries get a better deal through the use of the international FAIRTRADE Mark.

Fairtrade Labelling was created in the Netherlands in the late 1980s. The Max Havelaar Foundation launched the first Fairtrade consumer guarantee label in 1988 on coffee sourced from Mexico. Here in the UK, the Fairtrade Foundation was established in 1992, with the first products to carry the FAIRTRADE Mark launched in 1994

SALSA

Our Management System, the 'SUKI TEA MANIFESTO' and all the health and safety stuff that comes with running a food business. . . Read More(soon)

SCORES ON THE DOORS

Top marks, We got 5 stars! Scores on the doors is a national public information service where you can find the official local authority hygiene ratings for food businesses.

http://www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk/

Contact us. . . oscar@suki-tea.com  Tel: 028 9033 0938 

According to legend, the Chinese emperor Shen Nung discovered tea in 2737 B.C. Being a creative scientist, he decreed that drinking water be boiled as a hygenic precaution. The dried leaves from a nearby bush accidentally fell into the pot, creating a brown infusion. The emperor drank the new liquid out of curiosity and found it highly refreshing. Shen Nung reported that the drink gave him, "Vigour of the body, contentment of the mind, and determination of purpose". This discovery would later cause sensations around the world.

The 'Father of Tea' in Japan was a Buddhist priest by the name of Yensai. Having spent some time meditating in China, he returned with the tea seeds. Tea was then associated with Zen Buddhism in Japan and resulted in its elevation to an art form in the shape of the elaborately beautiful Japanese Tea Ceremony, which is now practiced in tea rooms throughout the world.

Tea continued to travel throughout the Orient but only arrived in Europe in the early 17th century and was so expensive that it was kept as a rich man’s beverage; only royalty and aristocratic cliques could enjoy it. As the amount of tea imported increased, so the price dropped and eventually it became affordable to the masses. The first samples of tea only reached England between 1652 and 1654 and it quickly became popular enough to replace ale as the national drink. The brewing of pure, orthodox leaf tea was rapidly replaced in the 1960s with the mass production of tea in the teabag, which was in itself a response to instant coffee (the origins of the teabag can be traced to accidental events in packaging by the tea merchant Thomas Sullivan in 1908 in New York). It was now possible to make a much faster infusion. However, this also transformed the authentic taste and nature of the drink.

Today we drink virtually the same tea as that of the Emperor Shen Nung and we drink lots of it. Ireland has the highest per capita tea consumption in the world at 4 cups per person per day, with many drinking more than 6 cups per day and may it long continue!

For a more detailed synopsis go to - Wikipedia