I am 100% in favour of loose leaf tea. As with Kyle we had to make the decision when starting the business wether or not to carry pyramids. In this case we decided against it and stuck to our idea of only the best loose leaf we could find. We also worked out at the time how much we would need to sell the pyramids at, and to be honest I thought, I wouldn't pay that kind of money so not fair to try and charge it to others. As Kyle said loose leaf is much better value for money.
Because some people mentioned they could only drink our teas in their house, we did start selling T-sacs, purely to help people have the tea they wanted wherever they were. I do the same, they are cost effective and takes me 2secs to spoon the tea into a few bags to take with me.
I do understand the pyramids are practical but...
And yes, Drew and Kyle, no way Jose you'll ever catch me drinking a dusty teabag from those companies (we know who they are). Not only I don't trust the "tea" in them, they also taste horrendous and to top it all just read an article last week about one of those companies running a slaving type operation in India. Yes they are cheap, but they're not real tea and at what cost to others can they make them that cheap?
Phew, that's my rant done :). Sorry, had to let this out of my chest... finally :).
Thanks for starting the discussion Drew. Another great idea ;)!
I'm a total advocate for loose leaf tea and call the British teabag malady the 'postwar teabag syndrome'. I very very occasionally drink bagged tea but that's only for convenience on holiday or when having tea out and about. But I do search out cafe's that serve the premium bags so its at least halfway decent. Like you I don't consider the 'commercial teabags' as tea and if served that dose it up with milk and its simply a warm drink than.
When I started Whittington's Tea Emporium I had to make the decision to carry teabags or not. I would say about 90-95% of the teas we carry are loose leaf only and those that do come in teabags from Canton Tea Co or Adagio Teas are only there if we have the same tea in loose format as well. So just a buying option really. I made this decision partly for commercial reasons as you discuss in your article but also because I felt there was potentially a market for people wanting to get into tea but scared of loose leaf. However, we find that loose leaf sales are much higher than teabag and really, when you compare the value loose leaf is just so much better. £4 for 15 bags or 50g loose - I know which one I'd choose!
I am 100% in favour of loose leaf tea. As with Kyle we had to make the decision when starting the business wether or not to carry pyramids. In this case we decided against it and stuck to our idea of only the best loose leaf we could find. We also worked out at the time how much we would need to sell the pyramids at, and to be honest I thought, I wouldn't pay that kind of money so not fair to try and charge it to others. As Kyle said loose leaf is much better value for money.
Because some people mentioned they could only drink our teas in their house, we did start selling T-sacs, purely to help people have the tea they wanted wherever they were. I do the same, they are cost effective and takes me 2secs to spoon the tea into a few bags to take with me.
I do understand the pyramids are practical but...
And yes, Drew and Kyle, no way Jose you'll ever catch me drinking a dusty teabag from those companies (we know who they are). Not only I don't trust the "tea" in them, they also taste horrendous and to top it all just read an article last week about one of those companies running a slaving type operation in India. Yes they are cheap, but they're not real tea and at what cost to others can they make them that cheap?
Phew, that's my rant done :). Sorry, had to let this out of my chest... finally :).
Thanks for starting the discussion Drew. Another great idea ;)!
I'm a total advocate for loose leaf tea and call the British teabag malady the 'postwar teabag syndrome'. I very very occasionally drink bagged tea but that's only for convenience on holiday or when having tea out and about. But I do search out cafe's that serve the premium bags so its at least halfway decent. Like you I don't consider the 'commercial teabags' as tea and if served that dose it up with milk and its simply a warm drink than.
When I started Whittington's Tea Emporium I had to make the decision to carry teabags or not. I would say about 90-95% of the teas we carry are loose leaf only and those that do come in teabags from Canton Tea Co or Adagio Teas are only there if we have the same tea in loose format as well. So just a buying option really. I made this decision partly for commercial reasons as you discuss in your article but also because I felt there was potentially a market for people wanting to get into tea but scared of loose leaf. However, we find that loose leaf sales are much higher than teabag and really, when you compare the value loose leaf is just so much better. £4 for 15 bags or 50g loose - I know which one I'd choose!
Thanks for opening this debate Drew.