After a long hiatus, I’ve recently started drinking caffeinated tea again.
It began a few months ago when I was reading a fellow blogger’s In My Kitchen post about using Earl Grey for iced tea. From there, it’s evolved into a daily cup (or two) of hot Earl Grey, milk-free and sweetened with a little honey.
Last week, I was out and about with my foodie friend Allison. Our lunch dates often turn into road trips, as we drive our cars in convoy from one suburb to another, stopping to pick up goodies along the way. On our last adventure, we started at a new eatery in Marrickville, popped into Southern Cross supplies, then trekked out to the Portuguese shops in Petersham.
On the way, we stopped at Double Roasters in Marrickville. These guys take their coffee very seriously – apart from a selection of custom roasted beans for sale, they were also offering a rare single origin brew that Al was keen to try. It’s a testament to their graciousness that not a single eyebrow was raised when I sheepishly announced that I didn’t drink coffee. Instead, they sat us down and brought me a pot of the most amazing Earl Grey tea I’d ever tasted.
I discovered that the tea was blended locally by a Sydney based company called Tea Craft. The following morning, I hopped onto their website and placed an order – some Earl Grey for me, a bag of their signature Karavan blend to try, and Russian Caravan for Big Boy (my eldest son has strong opinions about tea). The order was placed at 9.23am, shipped at 9.38am, and delivered at 2pm. It’s hard not to be impressed with service like that!
Tea Craft products aren’t cheap, but the quality is superb. Their Earl Grey is aromatically flavoured with bergamot and blue cornflowers, and it’s a delicious, gentle brew (unlike the one I bought from T2 recently, which I found overly tannic and bitter). Big Boy loved the Russian Caravan. The Karavan blend is also very nice – it’s a mix of black and green teas flavoured with bergamot, peppermint and rose…
I was keen to try other teas from this company, but didn’t want to pay for a full bag of each, so I contacted them on Twitter and asked if they offered a sample pack. They replied instantly – they didn’t offer it as a standard product, but would be more than happy to put one together for me. I told them my budget and my drinking preferences (weak black teas or herbal teas, drunk without milk) and let them choose.
The next day, a silver bag of treasure arrived…
I don’t have any affiliation whatsoever with either of these companies, but I am biased – I like to support our homegrown, Sydney-based businesses as much as possible, particularly when they offer such great products and service!
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Tea Craft
Tel: (+61) 1300 733 973
www.teacraft.com.au
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Double Roasters / Wicks Park Cafe
199 Victoria Rd, Marrickville,
Sydney, NSW 2204
Tel: (02) 9572 7711
www.doubleroasters.com
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