Local Chef, the latest addition to our team, makes his writing debut on a rare outing from the kitchen.
I was joined by my friend and tea enthusiast, Melissa, for a visit to the new Eteaket tea shop on Rose Street in Edinburgh. Having tried a number of their teas in the restaurant I used to work in and around town I was already aware of their tasty goodness and wouldn't miss an opportunity to learn more about what they do.
The new shop is just a short walk from their eteaket Tea Room on Frederick Street and lined with shelves, well stocked with a mind-boggling array of tea blends and quirky paraphernalia for brewing and drinking tea.
We were given a warm welcome with a glass of prosecco, tea-infused shortbread and were then invited to peruse the shelves. All manner of loose teas were available: green, white, black, rooibos, herbals, oolongs and on each shelve a sample glass of dry tea for you to see and smell. There are also many types of teapots and teacups for sale. Paper filters, teaballs, infuser mugs, bubble cups designed and made by local ceramics guy Ian Henderson and a matcha tea set which delighted Melissa no end with the little bamboo tea whisk (Mrs Foodie brought one of these back from Japan earlier this year having been unable to source one in Glasgow!).
Eteaket are dedicated to their cause, not just promoting tasty tea but also supporting a Fairtrade deal to the tea farms who supply them. This makes their products seem a little expensive but you won't be disappointed by the quality, everything is just that little bit more special!
There were some taps on the back wall with a cold brew fruit tea which was deliciously refreshing and better than the prosecco but the highlight of the night had to be the tea-siphon demonstrations.
This ingenious bit of kit is usually used to make coffee but Eteaket discovered it works really well with their loose leaf teas, making the perfect pot in less than a minute after the water boils. The base boils the water with an infrared beam, once it's at the right temperature the water feeds up a tube to a filter vessel above, infuses with the tea and then falls back down into the original jug. We tried their Bollywood Dreams Chai and the Christmas edition Snowflake Sencha tea, both were delicious and fragrant, well impressed!
The shop is open for business now and expecting lots of foot fall, their Christmas gift kits look like a great idea for tea lovers this year. Apparently they can supply the siphon equipment as well - this is on our Christmas list!
Location:
Eteaket
111 Rose St
Edinburgh
http://www.eteaket.co.uk/
http://hendersonhallceramics.wordpress.com
