Rare Tea

I may be a half decent tea-lady but I’m a pretty terrible sales person. As I’m sure you know Rare Tea is only a little company. There is no sales team and no advertising and I’m often away visiting my farmers.

Its a daunting challenge getting the good stuff out there but a few pointers from you would be very helpful.

I’d be really grateful if you would tell me where you’d like to find Rare Tea. Would you tell me your favourite local deli/ restaurant/ hotel/pub? Anywhere where you think it would be good if you could buy a tin or drink a pot of my tea.

Goodness gracious I can’t tell you how amazing the response has been to the BBC Radio 4 Food Program a couple of weeks ago.

Thank you so much for all your kind emails and letters and calls. And, of course, for the orders that have been unprecedented. Lost Malawi really is taking off. My recordings from the farm seem to have really struck a cord.

The BBC kindly gave me some recording equipment and a swift training session and off I went across Africa. I normally travel with nothing of real value so that I don’t have to worry. The BBC equipment was a very precious burden.

I took it with me everywhere I went and made recordings of everything and everyone I met. The result sounded a lot like, well, porn. Poor, poor producer, Rebecca Moore, who had to listen to it all is a woman of saintly patience. That she made such a great program out of it is a work of remarkable genius.

When I listen back to what I had done I realised that I had set the sound levels badly and managed to pick up a lot of dogs panting rather than the conversations I was after. There was a lot of me trying to walk and talk, followed by an entourage of dogs who took it apon themselves to follow me everywhere. Because the tea garden of Satemwa is high on Thyolo mountains I was often out of breath and that breathy voice with the panting in the back ground made it seem as though I had attempted to record something altogether more sordid than a documentary about tea.

The finished program is brilliant and very polished. I can only say that, that had little to do with me and a lot to do with the brilliant people at Radio 4.

If you want to listen to it its still available to Listen Again Here

In case you’re wondering why its been so long since Henrietta has written anything - she’s been away in Africa sourcing new teas. She is currently in the Cederberg Mountains of South Africa with the Wild Rooibos Farmer.

She tells me it was 45 degrees yesterday. Yes, I feel really sorry for her too.

Storm

Just a quick reminder that the last posting day will be here soon.

For UK parcels to be delivered before Christmas please make you’re order before noon on the 21st of December.

That’s next Monday morning- a week today!

Happy Christmas.
Storm

I suppose you know, if you read this, that my customers have been a tremendous influence, support and help in building Rare Tea Co.

Without them I wouldn’t have a business. They (you?) voted me the Observer Food Monthly best independent or online retailer 2009. They (you) nominated me for a 2009 BBC Food and Farming Award. They (you) have send me kind words of encouragement and advice as well as given me practical help. One customer edited my website, weeding out many mistakes. Another sent me a CD of the music he liked to listen to while drinking one of my teas.

Henry Harris (chef, proprietor at Racine, pictured above) let me host a small launch party for Lost Malawi at his restaurant and cooked the most wonderful breakfast for my guests.

I am so grateful to each and every one of the people who drink Rare Tea and keep me in business to continue sourcing more amazing teas from farmers around the world and bring the good stuff back.

I decided it was high time I stopped making Tea-V about me and started making it about you.

This is a little film made by some very talented film makers at Watermill-London about a few of my best customers.

Today Storm (my glamorous assistant tea-lady) and I were at Broadcasting House for the
BBC Food and Farming Awards.

Rare Tea was nominated and then shortlisted down to the final three for Best Retail Initiative. It was a bit like being nominated for an Oscar. We have been on the edge of our seats for weeks.

As we sat there in the Radio Theatre among the great and the good I was quaking like a small dog left out in the rain. Prince Charles was there and all the royalty of the food world- Angela Hartnett, Raymond Blanc, Mark Hix, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Nigel Slater, Alex James, Rose Prince - I could go on and on. And that was just the names you might know. The theater was crammed full of passionate, committed and hugely knowledgeable farmers and producers. I know you won’t believe this, because if you read this blog with any regularity you’ll know I am a terrible show-off, but I wasn’t gutted not to win. It was a huge honour just to to be in that room.

I did speak to Prince Charles and offer him some tea too.

Last night I got back home late and tired and cold from 2 days filming in Scotland and Yorkshire with the Guardian (more Tea-V later) to the most wonderful news. The Fat Duck are going to serve our Malawi Antlers.

In a moment I went from exhaustion to elation.

I was invited down to Bray a couple of weeks ago to do a tasting and I’ve been sitting on the edge of my seat since then waiting and hoping. I can’t begin to describe how proud I am to be working with the Fat Duck.

We had the most incredible breakfast at Racine this morning to celebrate the launch of Lost Malawi. Henry Harris at Racine was the first chef to champion Lost Malawi and he very kindly lent me the private dining room to host the tea party. He also made the finest ham and cheese toasties known to man. The tea was pretty good too.

It’s called Lost Malawi because Alexander McCall Smith is not just a wonderful novelist but an extremely kind man.

I knew I had found a wonderful tea but I didn’t know how I’d persuade people to pick it up off the shelf. I met Alexander whilst hovering in a rainy doorway and he said he would help. He gave the tea its name and out of the goodness of his heart wrote a series of short stories to go inside the tins.

About fourteen of us gathered for tea and conversation. I was so overexcited and drank so much tea that I had to steady myself with a little Manzanilla. For once I didn’t go on endlessly about tea but let Alexander say a few words. He was far, far more eloquent than I could ever be - as was the tea.

When I was out at the farm where Lost Malawi comes from I made a little film to help explain why its such good tea.
It shows where the tea is grown and who grows and crafts it. I hope it helps explain why Lost Malawi is worth it.
Here it is.