Tastings at Ahmad Tea

This October some of the ChariTeas team were lucky enough to visit Ahmad Teas head office in Chandlers Ford, Southampton. At this time it is Tea buying season across the world. India and China have the same Tea growing seasons, there is no Tea produced from November through to spring, this is when all the essential repairs and maintenance takes place on the Tea bushes. So this is a very important time of year for Tea sellers.

 

Monthly Ahmad Teas tasting team, taste every Tea to ensure the highest standards of Tea go into our cup, so that taste and quality stays the same. Every Tea is graded once picked; the higher the number means the higher the quality Tea. Blenders can mix different grades to make new blends; English Breakfast Tea is a blend of Ceylon, Assam and Kenyan Teas.
When you taste Tea like this you must taste the Tea at double the strength we usually drink, each tea is measured out into 2 grams each, freshly boiled water is poured over the leaves, left to brew for a few minutes and to cool enough. Then you simply scoop, slurp then spit! You take a spoonful of tea then you slurp the tea to the back of your mouth. Slurping so that your taste buds get the first hit, then you immediately spit it out in to a spittoon or a spit jug as we used. It doesn’t feel like the most lady-like thing to do but we are informed this is how to do it properly!

While the Tea growing season is finished the work is not, this is the time of year when Tea growers reflect and evaluate on the past year. There are many factors that contribute towards a successful season, weather including climate which will determine the quality of the leaf. Also buyers, demand, growth and price. Buyers here at Ahmad Tea are involved with lots of different origins of Tea and therefore have lots of choice. They have to be very experienced and know the market well in order to get highest quality and the best price for the Tea leaves. There is allot of trust, honesty and long standing relationships between buyers, growers and sellers at Ahmad Tea. It is a huge responsibility growing Tea and so much unseen hard work is put into the taste we experience at home.
At ChariTeas Tea room we serve several loose teas, we were given the opportunity to taste the ones we serve and sell to get to know them better.  Tea tasting is a process that cant be rushed we started with the strongest ones first so we started with the black ones including English Breakfast and Ceylon. Blends like Original Green Tea and Jasmine are tasted last.

Green Teas are left till last as they are the weaker blends and do not want the others to overpower the taste. The process of Tea tasting is harder than the tasters make it look. The Tea starts off in the cup with the water in and then using fine china the tea is strained with special cups that have small teeth to strain the water out with minimal tea leaves left. Some of us made quite a mess making the tea and is in need of much more practice. We had a lovely time learning all the work that happens behind the scenes with the famous Tea brand and cant wait to go back to learn more.

Festive Fundraiser from U Support

 

 

 This Christmas ‘U Support’ children’s charity is giving young disabled, disadvantaged or those suffering life limiting conditions the Gift of an unforgettable day out.

 

Outside the ChariTeas Tea room there is a ‘Celebrity Tree’ and is decorated with crackers. Inside each cracker will have an experience for a child to enjoy; the children will be selected from charities, hospitals and specialist schools and those nominated by the public.

 

This Christmas fundraiser is to give hope at Christmas for youngsters in the community, children will be invited to come to the tearoom to pull a cracker and receive one of these special gifts.

 

The gifts will take place over 2013 and 2014 and range from tickets to watch Saints play at St Mary’s, theatre tickets at the Mayflower to see the Pantomime and for a lucky few concert tickets.

 

We are asking members of the public to nominate disabled children who they think will benefit the most from these experiences, if you know of a deserving child please contacts us at our charity office in The Marlands Shopping Centre or email info@usupport.org.uk.

 

We are also running a Christmas Toy Appeal for children in the community. If you would like to donate a toy please visit our office. To help a child, donate to U Support or give a Christmas present to a deserving child.

 

Following last year’s success, this year U Support has purchased 200 Pantomime tickets, some are especially reserved for wheelchair access. Here at U Support we are asking for your help by donating to our charity to ensure that we can do more events like this in the future and give children an experience they won’t forget.

U Support

'USupport Kids' meeting Olly Murs 

The Children's charity Usupport is the reason behind our wonderful Tearoom ChariTeas.
The Charity provides free tickets to events for children who are deprived, disadvantaged or have been diagnosed with life limiting conditions. The young people who receive these tickets are sourced from social services, paediatric wards, local children charities, local children hospices mainstream and special needs education.  These services provide essential care within the local communities.

The charity started off by buying season tickets for Southampton FC and then expanding to Portsmouth and Bournemouth FC.

Unfortunately the clubs can not provide free tickets and therefore the charity buys them and then gives them to particular services and charities to give to the children. Over the last year they have given out over 100's of  season tickets.

They have also been able given away over 3000 Cricket tickets to 'Usupport kids' this summer for games at the Ageas Bowl in Eastleigh,

England Vs New Zeland I.O.D

Usupport have also been lucky enough to give away tickets for children to meet their favourite pop stars. Meet and greets have included Olly Murs, One Direction, Beyoncé, Adele, JLS to name a few! Today we are giving away tickets for a box for a concert help Royal Albert Hall so this means 5 children and 5 careers get to enjoy the band McFly courtesy of Usupport.

"Seeing the sheer enjoyment and fun that these children have at these events is truly wonderful, it shows that these experiences can help and shows that people do care about them. Disability and disadvantage should never be a barrier in modern society" Adam Gregory, Charity founder.

Our aim is to educate and convey to people with illness or disability should not mean that they miss out or not be provided for. We need your support to help continue the work that we do and help change lives of those who are most vulnerable. 'Children's dreams have no boundaries except for those who that adults place on them.' Usupport aims to push the current limitations further and thus help to realise the dreams of many.

To find out what you can do to help get involved with ChariTeas or Usupport come down to The Marlands Shopping centre in Southampton or visit www.usupport.org.uk or www.chariteas.org.uk

Tea Of The Month

Jasmine Green Tea

Jasmine Green Tea is the oldest yet still the most popular tea produced today. It originated in China where there is rich soil and changing temperatures, which influences its quality. The trees produce an aromatic leaf which then grows into a beautiful flower.

 

When they are in bloom, its blossoms are collected and prepared and left for the fragrance to mix with tea overnight. The tea absorbs the sweet scent they are then separated and the tea is left for 3 days. This process can be repeated up to 5 times depending on the quality of the flower.

 

This is a light and fragrant Green Tea and is scented with delicate Jasmine flowers that brings its floral sweetness. Jasmine flowers have quite a strong smell but the tea is surprisingly light and very refreshing.

 

6 weeks on, the story so far

Today we have finished our 6th week of trading, we are all very pleased with the progress and the hard work that the team & supporters have put in. 

When we first opened in July it was in the middle of a heat wave and the Marlands centre was very quiet, but in the last few weeks we have had many, many busy days. 

We have had customers from Southampton and local areas and some from as far away as Florida & Thailand. 

Some of our customers have left some wonderful comments in our book and we would like to share some  of them with you, 

Mike & Ange from Eastleigh commented "gorgeous high tea & perfect service" 

Rosamund from Madrid commented "very nice, friendly and beautiful decor 

Laura Monaghan from Gillingham commented "truly remarkable"

We would like to thank all of our customers, visitors, supporters and staff for making the tearoom such a special place and although our business is new it's heading for a very bright and exciting future. 

If you have not already visited our beautifully unique tearoom in the heart of Southampton then we welcome you to come and have tea, coffee, lunch or afternoon teas with us and see what wonderful work we are doing for young disabled and disadvantaged children in the community. 

Thank you to all that have made it a success so far we have look forward to more exciting times ahead. 

Guilt free afternoon tea

Our beautiful tearoom offers a variety of treats for any occasion but our most popular delight is our 'Buckingham' an afternoon tea fit for royalty. 

Our traditional afternoon tea comes on a 3 tiered plate stand and consist of a selection of freshly made sandwiches, with your choice of filling homemade fruit or plain scones with jam & clotted cream and our top plate is filled with cakes, bakes and pastries. 

This is for 2 to share at your leisure, this treat costs £20 and can be eaten guilt free because the money made goes straight to our childrens charity 'U Support' which helps those most vulnerable in the community. 

We serve all afternoon teas from fine china teapots and have a wide selection of loose leaf teas to choose from. We have a total of 23 teas to offer on our menu. We also serve fresh coffee and soft drinks, Something for everyone! Next time you fancy indulging come and try our scrumptious high teas. 

Weekly Brew

On Monday the 15th July we officially opened, this week has been a huge success, thank you to our staff and customers & visitors that have made this happen. We have all been working hard despite the heat trying our hand at ice tea & coffees, for those who don't know that all this has been done to help fund-raise for the charity USupport, www.usupport.org.uk, it provides days out to sporting, music & theatre events for children who have life limiting conditions also to those who are most vulnerable in the community. This week we will be launching details of our first event for later in August for the children that usupport is involved with and give them a special day full of fun and games.

On our opening day we raised £30 through giving tea & cakes away for donations. Thanks to all who came and made it really special, We have had so many visitors this week who have enjoyed fresh and tasty salads, amazing sandwiches and jackets. We have served hundreds of cups of tea and freshly ground coffee. Our Lemon drizzle and Carrot cake have proven to be the most popular cakes we have and our homemade cupcakes have become the talk of the Marlands, we have 8 different types freshly made for you they are; Banoffee, Vanilla, Hazelnut, Oreo, White and Milk chocolate, Lemon and Strawberry! Most of them have middles filled with genache, curd or jam!

To see all the flavours ans there ingredients visit http://www.prettylittlebakes.co.uk/#!cupcake-flavours