Whether your favoured drink is tea or coffee, we all tend to have our favourites and stick to blends we are familiar with. However, there is also a growing recognition that not all brands offer
Whether your favoured drink is tea or coffee, we all tend to have our favourites and stick to blends we are familiar with.
However, there is also a growing recognition that not all brands offer the most sustainable choices and that taking time to try some locally produced products can reduce food miles and support the economic community. Times have been hard and being locked down due to Covid has had a big impact on our spending and socialising – possibly we are all a little more thoughtful in our decisions and want the best we can obtain within our own locality.
TEA
Tea is the world’s second most consumed beverage and 84% of the British population drink tea daily – often several cups! Now grown in many worldwide locations the original tea growing took place in Asia – the Camelia sinensis plant is the derivative of all other tea varieties. To grow successfully tea needs hot days and cool nights, preferably at high altitudes. In the UK we mostly consume black teas with high caffeine levels, although the health benefits of green tea is increasing demand. White tea is more rarely found and more expensive. Semi-fermented tea is called oolong and the most exclusive tea of all is pu erh tea, which is aged for up to 50 years. Local New Forest supplier Tips and Leaves ( www.tipsnleaves.com) can offer all these teas and source premium teas from all around the globe. With a motto of Is it tea you are looking for?, all of their teas are ethically sourced and packed in home compostable packaging.
Owners Ian and Kelly (accompanied by their dog Gracie) have also established The New Forest Tea Company as a result of the changes during lockdown – previously they ran two tea lounges in Lyndhurst and had been ethically sourcing teas for over a decade. However, the Covid lockdown gave them time to not only develop new blends, in association with their tea importer, but also to address their concerns about sustainable production and supply. They now package tea in refillable pouches or use packaging made from Natureflex, which breaks down after 3-6 months. All of thier ethically sourced, premium teas come in plastic free, compostable tea pyramids – addressing the growing concer about the plastic present in big brand tea bags. They also pack all of their teas in home compostable pouches as well as offering refill options to keep your tea tin full.
You can buy their tea online (postage free if your order is over £20) and Ian and Kelly also supply wholesale to many New Forest companies – cafes, farm shops, hotels, restaurants and holiday accommodation. Their commitment to provide “premium tea that doesn’t cost the earth” and expansion since 2021 has led to The New Forest Tea Company being awarded the Best New Business in the New Forest Brilliance in Business Awards.
Find out more about Ian and Kelly’s adventures in sustainable tea supply on their facebook page, twitter , email on newforestteaco@gmail.com or meet them at the Highcliffe Food and Arts Festival. Their website has details of their products and accessories – www.newforestteacompany.com.
COFFEE
I turn now to where to get really amazing coffee in the New Forest area – Forest Edge Roasting is based in Lyndhurt and run by Robyn, who started a coffee van on returning from Australia and missing the coffee scene she found there. She wanted to also tackle the amount of plastic waste created by the mainstream coffee outlets and determined to use sustainable coffee beans and plastic-free packaging. Robyn was told by everyone she asked that being sustainable and profitable in roasting and selling coffee would be impossible, but she set off in her solar-powered coffee van anyway! Once Covid put paid to her mobile work, Robyn concentrated on roasting coffee sourced from ethical suppliers and keeping homeworkers supplied with specialist coffee. By September 2021, Robyn was able to open her coffee house in Lyndhurst and continue her online business.
Entirely plastic-free, Robyn uses compostable cups and lids as well as packaging and offers reuse tubs to her customers. Only sourcing coffee from growers with a social and ecological ethos is vital too – examples include Rwandan coffee grown by female workers with no other income source and Brazilian farmer who has reduced water consumption with irrigation projects. Obviously, selling online does involve import and postal charges, but Robyn tries to offset this by using carbon neutral companies and contributing to Ecologi, which plants trees every month.
Forest Edge Roasting has a subscription service and “three bag bundle” – blends are Forest Edge Roast, Muddy Paws, Hedgerow, Drifters and North Ridge – if you are at the top of Lyndhurst High Street pop in and try some out. Robyn can be reached on 07931 362307 , on facebook , twitter or email on robyn@forestedgeroasting.co.uk.
Global adventures in good taste – Coffee Mongers
Sourcing the world’s finest beans and then roasting them to achieve perfection is the achieved aim and ethos of Lymington based Coffee Mongers, which is run by a team of coffee lovers based at Unit 13 , Ampress Park. This ethical and sustainable coffee company was set up some years ago by Brooke and Tarek ,who were later joined by Gareth and Jake, to name two of the other team members. Providing a warm welcome at the coffee bar open 10am to 4pm weekdays (and now 10am to 2pm Saturdays) is Doola the Coffee Mongers friendly dog. Prior to the Covid lockdown they concentrated on roasting for the wholesale market across the New Forest and beyond, but have now developed a busy online sales business for individual consumers – subscribers and call in customers – many of whom will come out of their way for a sublime cup of ethically sourced and specially roasted coffee.
Talking about coffee is pretty important to the team too – Jake explained to me so much about coffee and how they identify the ones they will roast and blend. The dark-roasted coffee that gained popularity from the Italian market is often poor quality and high in caffeine. Coffee Mongers offer a variety of high-grade flavoursome coffees with 30% less caffeine and subtle flavours to suit all palates. They roast small amounts and can buy a harvest from growers across the world that they know and have built a relationship with. Arabica coffee is the most popular type of bean used for a sweeter, less harsh taste while Robusta is cheaper to produce and higher in caffeine, with a more bitter flavour. Buying direct from growers means they can purchase a whole harvest and create their own blends – this are then introduced to their keen coffee customers and is offered as single origin coffee. Once tasted many find that they can never go back to the mass produced coffees offered by the big brands.
During lockdown they developed the mail order and subscription services and are now also welcoming customers into the coffee bar at Ampress Park. Regularly supplying local eateries and businesses such as garden centres, Coffee Mongers start by agreeing a “go to” blend and enable customers to try some more unusual coffees and to be very flexible about amounts and re-ordering. They are in frequent touch with their regulars and operate an impressive delivery system , which is able to respond quickly to demand and new orders while keeping travel miles to a minimum. They too use plastic-free packaging and reusable tubs for business supplies. The Arabica coffee beans come in as green beans and will have been defined already by a Coffee Q Grader, but the team at Coffee Mongers can then taste and discuss before deciding how to blend and roast for their business – this sounded like a very enjoyable part of their job! After some sample roasting in the probat mini roaster the beans are roasted for about 15 minutes in their 20kg Buhler roaster.
Globe-trotting has been the shared backgound in this team and their commitment to environmental issues is clear – previously the local HQ for Surfers Against Sewage, Coffee Mongers are really looking forward to their next venture – they have taken on the adjacent unit and are dividing the space to production and the customer area. Now that lockdown is over they plan to restart coffee clubs, music events and to have a great space for people to pop in for a coffee, pastries and to chill out. Courses will be on offer to show people just how to get the best from their coffee and coffee machines. With Gareth having been an DJ and Jake a keen jazz musician , they will be welcoming local musicians to get involved too. Brooke and Tarek are back in Miami and devote their time to sourcing and developing coffee contacts across the world, ensuring their suppliers are working to their environmental and sociological standards.
Too busy drinking and roasting coffee to spend all day on social media, Coffee Mongers do have a facebook page and website – www.coffeemongers.com and can be contacted on 01590 676736 or email on hello@coffeemongers.com. I shall certainly be keeping an eye open for the fliers to publicise their new ventures – Jake said he is more likely to be delivering these on his bike, rather then a huge promotional launch and this seems typical of Coffee Mongers whole ethos – sustainability and coffee take precedence!