As you can imagine I was chuffed to bits when my brother's family decided to get in on the act and  demonstrate their allegiance to Trumpers Tea when we were on holiday in St Agnes!  A breakfast bbq was rounded off by a delicious cup of Trumpers English Breakfast...a perfect accompaniment to a bacon sandwich after your early morning dip!

How are you spending your summer holidays and most importantly where are you drinking your Trumpers Tea?  Let us know and we'll put the best entries up on the website.  Hope you're having fun!

Back from our summer holidays we're raring to go and ready to get out and about to taste tea with you all!  We launch into our run of autumn shows this weekend with a 'pre-season friendly' event at our wonderful local hotel, the Castle House in Hereford.  Some of the best food in the UK is grown and produced right here in Herefordshire and the Marches and at Castle House the head chef Claire Nicholls only uses the finest in her menus.  Trumpers Tea are delighted to be working with the Hotel and encourage all our local supporters to call in tomorrow - 14th August - for a cup of tea and a browse around this wonderful event that showcases a selection of local producers.  We look forward to seeing you.  For more information please follow the link below:

http://www.castlehse.co.uk/page.asp?id=393&parent_id=0  

Thanks to Martin Griffiths for writing a great article in this months Herefordshire Life Magazine about where to find the best tea and cakes in the county!

Martin was kind enough to finish the article with a reference to our teas… “For a great cup of tea I use a range of teas supplied by Claire Trumper of Trumpers Tea. Not only are her teas sourced through the Fair Trade scheme, they also taste fantastic.” Cheers Martin!

The full article can be found by following the link below. We’re pleased to be found in many of the featured restaurants and cafes and will be spending the summer catching up with those where we’re not!

 http://herefordshire.greatbritishlife.co.uk/article/where-to-find-the-best-tea-and-cakes-shops-food-things-to-do-22163/

With Wimbledon Fortnight ahead of us and a forecast promising scorching sunshine its time to take a leaf out of the South African’s book and make great use of our Rooibos tea! Enjoy a refreshing glass of iced Rooibos and top up with your daily dose of antioxidants. Make your tea as normal in a teapot, strain it and transfer it to a jug and leave to cool in the fridge. As play starts around 2.00pm, take a little mint from the garden and cut up some fresh strawberries and perhaps a few slices of orange and add to the jug with plenty of ice. A perfect replacement to Pimms if you like us will be listening to the game on the radio whilst working! Try different fruit combinations and even top up with soda water if you want to make a longer drink…perfect for the 5 Set matches! 

 To encourage you to experiment with Rooibos and realise its versatility we have discounted both the caddies and refills throughout the fortnight – enjoy! 

Come on Andy ...make 2010 your year.....

When a village looses its shop, it is in danger of loosing its soul and sense of Community.  Trumpers Tea are pleased to be among a range of local and organic products currently being stocked at Feckenham Village Shop in Worcestershire – a shop owned and run by volunteers in the village.

The shop was the worthy winner of the Countryside Alliance ‘Village Shop of the Year’ award earlier this year.  Please click on the link below to learn more. 

Good luck to the team at the Ambridge Village Shop – they could certainly learn a great deal from the team at Feckenham!    

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/herefordandworcester/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8500000/8500018.stm

I can’t believe where the time disappears to – everyone said that starting my own business would keep me busy but this is ridiculous! My apologies for not keeping you all up to date recently.

Last month I had the privilege of working in Rwanda at a wonderful tea estate called Sorwathe. Following the genocide in 1994, when the estate was used by the UN as their headquarters and for obvious reasons the tea crop was abandoned, a new team has returned tothe area and rehabilitated the factory whilst at the same time considering the socio-economic needs of the local residents. It really is a wonderful example of Fairtrade in action! 

Back in the ‘good old days’ of the London auction I used to watch with envy as smaller, more specialist buyers than Tetley would buy Rwandan teas for double or triple our budget as they were of exceptionally high quality but being able to just taste them each week was exciting enough for a young trainee! I really hope that the Rwandan tea industry will once more return to these levels and give the UK buyers and consumers something to get excited about again. 

Whilst in Rwanda I tasted some beautiful teas so watch this space to see if we were able to bring anything back to tempt your palate!      

Just before Christmas, I was invited to take a seat on the sofa at Wiggly Wigglers HQ to chat about the joys of tea - as you can imagine, not a chore at all!  For those of you that have not come across this wonderful Herefordshire company can I suggest that you take a look at their website - www.wigglywigglers.co.uk   Initially started mainly as a worm business for composting, it now offers a fantastic range of products for both the home and garden with everything from gorgeous mohair socks to Wiggly Bouquets created from local and seasonal flowers. 

After our chat on the sofa, Heather suggested that we look at selling tea through their catalogue and website and this week the new spring catalogue landed on my doorstep featuring Trumpers Tea!  We have packed tea into larger 1 Kg packs with the intention of capturing the more rural customer who buys in bulk and has a great eye for a bargain.  We're all very excited about this innovation and look forward to working with the friendly team at Wiggly Wigglers. 

I’m delighted to say that the famed Radio 4 Food Programme started the year this weekend by reviewing the rise of speciality tea sales in the UK market. After many years of static and declining markets I am pleased to say that tea sales are increasing in the UK and the ascendancy is being led by the speciality market! Bill Gorman, the Executive Chairman of the UK Tea Council, suggested that we were all waking up to the realisation that the product “fits the aspirations of our 21^st century lifestyle – it is natural, it is healthy and actually it is terribly enjoyable as well!” Afternoon tea sales are up and younger groups are enjoying celebrating special occasions with tea related parties – it’s no longer only a domain for the wrinklies! 

The team at Trumpers Tea are thrilled to be described by Sheila Dillon as ‘zealots’ of the trade, working in the speciality market bringing you high quality, full flavoured, loose leaf teas to enjoy. This year we will be expanding our range and tempting your palate enabling you to continue enjoying the wonderful product that is the ‘social glue’ that holds society together.  

Amazingly, we find ourselves three days into December and already the frantic buzz of Christmas is being felt in town as well as at home as I haven't yet finished (or started!) my overseas Christmas cards! 

As snow was spotted on Hay Bluff this morning I feel that I need to encourage you all to keep your teapot warm for your second cup of tea with our wonderfully cheerful tea cosies - take a look in the shop to see the new arrivals.  Perfect for a winter's morning! 

The picture shows our latest model, or the office dog - Finn, sporting a bright red version of our cosy and I think you'll agree he looks extremely festive!  Good luck with the run up to Christmas and most importantly enjoy the festivities.   

After a great deal of communication with you all (and the odd nudge in the right direction!) I am delighted to be able to introduce the new range of herbal infusions under the Trumpers Tea brand. 

Having been a 'traditionalist' for so many years, I have had to be convinced of the taste profile of these new products and ensure that the depth of flavour and quality of the leaf is unmatched in such a premium market.  I have listened to you all and hope that the initial team of lemon verbena, peppermint and fennel will be a pleasure to your taste buds!  The final infusion for this year will be Chamomile and I hope that this will be with us all early next month.

Please try these new products as I am confident that you will love them and I look forward to hearing from you!

 

After a really busy summer season an awful lot of us are coughing and sneezing our way into autumn and the team at Trumpers Tea are boosting their immunity with antioxidant rich green tea!  Proven to be packed with great health benefits we're all on a challenge to see who stays fit over half term, so whether you've got a sniffle or the wonderfully named 'fresher's flu'' join with us and give your immune system some support. 

I know that many of you are experts by now but just a quick reminder to ensure that you enjoy the best cup of green tea this morning here are a few reminders about making a great brew -  

• never use boiling water - always catch the water just before or after the boil as the leaf is extremely sensitive and needs treating with care - a bit like us in the morning!
• rinse the leaf and throw the water away to ensure that you wash the tannins from the leaf leaving no horrible bitter tastes that make us wrinkle our nose like medicine.
• Enjoy the first cup....and then the second cup with the same leaf....and the third cup....possibly all the way to the fourth or fifth infusion using the same leaf.
• Add a slice of lemon to increase the absorption of antioxidants by the body and enjoy a cold free half term!

We're delighted to say that our green tea - Pi Lo Chun - has been so well received by you all that we're adding a new green tea to the range before Christmas.  I can't say anymore than that at the moment but watch this space - it’s a beautiful and quite unique tea which I'm sure you'll love.

Go and make yourself a cup of green tea and keep up the good fight!

Its been a very busy time at Trumpers HQ. My apologies for the lack of posts.

We are about to embark on a round of local and regional Food Festivals. I love this opportunity to meet with you all and to chat about tea and to hear how our blends are performing - basically any excuse to put the kettle on and to have a natter!

This weekend we were at the Worcester Feast and found ourselves being interviewed by the BBC about dunking biscuits! Its amazing what happens in these 'sleepy' market towns! Please click on the link below to follow our story - I shall say no more as I am still wondering what we got ourselves involved with. They say that any publicity is a good thing though and I hope that they are right! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8239218.stm

The other highlight of my weekend was meeting Rusty Lee! Do you remember her in the 80s as a celebrity chef? Her enthusiasm and love for life was infectious and we all enjoyed chatting to her - great to see her back. Hope she enjoys her Trumpers Tea!

Off to Ludlow next weekend (11th-13th September) which is going to be great - a must for food lovers like myself! Hope to see you there. I wonder what adventures we will have along the way?!

After the recent heady mixture of sunshine and showers the garden looks like a jungle and I was starting to complain about the difficulties of keeping up with Mother Nature when this picture came through…! It was taken at Borengajuli, the estate in Assam that supplies tea for our English Breakfast blend and I think I’ve got problems! The picture is entitled ‘that’s far enough!’ and I couldn’t agree more – I will take up my secateurs with pleasure and you won’t hear another word!

Between the battles with the greenery I am delighted to say that things are up and running at Trumpers Tea HQ and I would like to thank you all for your support. We have a busy month ahead with two large food festivals looming – we look forward to seeing you at Cheltenham before donning our kilts and heading for the Highland Show where we are unveiling our new member of the Trumpers Tea family – more to follow soon.    

Well we finally made it and last week we found ourselves at a local food and drink festival in Tewksbury to meet you (well the locals anyway!) and find out what you thought of Trumpers Tea.

I even managed to get snapped by our local radio station as evidence that we made it out of the office at long last!

What a weekend – thank you! The nerves quickly gave way to excitement at learning how you drink your favourite cuppa and believe me, no two people are the same!

Thanks to all the ‘team’ who supported us at the weekend and I promise that you will have a break next time to get a delicious Gloucester Old Spot sandwich for lunch!

Its great to be up and running and I look forward to meeting more of you as we travel the country this year.

http://www.heartgloucestershire.co.uk/photoWallPhoto.asp?wallid=52509