Batch Tea Company: Tea For The People

As a relatively recent tea convert, I spent many years in the wilderness, believing that the only tea available was Sainsbury's Red Label, as drunk by my mum and dad since the year dot. But following my conversion, I have relished the opportunity to delve into the world of tea and to sample all of the delights it has to offer.

With that in mind, I was understandably thrilled when Marc Riley and Owen Terry from Batch Tea Company came to visit us at Portland Works to talk all things tea and to treat us to a cup or two of their mouth-wateringly delicious Kama Sutra Sticky Chai.

The Batch Tea mission is to provide great 'Tea For The People' and to spread knowledge and understanding of the tea world, while also bringing a fantastic range of teas to everyday consumers.

Most tea enthusiasts I know thoroughly enjoy a good old-fashioned breakfast tea but this is just the tip of the teapot, as it were. There are thousands of different types of tea, all of which originate from the same bush, the camellia sinensis, and in a similar way to wine, all manner of environmental factors can affect how the tea turns out, including climate, geology, altitude and the processing method.

Marc and Owen tell us, 'It is the processing which gives us our six main types - white, green, yellow, oolong, black and aged or fermented tea. Add to that flavoured teas like jasmine green and blended teas like English Breakfast and some estimates put us at well over 20,000 different types out there.'

There are thousands of different types of tea

As climate breakdown has moved up the agenda, Batch Tea Company have put sustainable, ethical, low impact tea production firmly at the heart of what they do. They believe that tea should be produced in a way that supports the environment, the growers and producers, and the consumers. Marc and Owen are also part of the growing movement towards 'safe tea' which utilises clean growing and processing conditions, natural pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers and organic production where possible.

Batch Tea Company are passionate about visiting small, artisan producers around the world, trying their teas, and bringing them back for us to enjoy, while also educating the market about tea.

'We use the incredible variety of different teas which we personally source to achieve this. We visit organisations and events to talk about and serve tea using traditional ceremonies to help bring a little bit of history and context to this incredible drink on which so much of our own British history and traditions are built.'

Find out more about Batch Tea & buy their teas here.

Flick Jackson