Suki moves step closer to growing own tea in Northern Ireland
Suki Teahouse, the Belfast boutique tea blender, has moved a step
closer to growing its own tea in Northern Ireland. The award-winningblender of teas and fruit infusions recently took delivery of the
first 4,000 cuttings from the famed Luponde Tea Garden in Tanzania, one of the world's oldest organic estates.
Suki, winner of 27 UK Great Taste Awards and renowned for its
support of Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance ethical production
standards, will cultivate the cuttings under controlled conditions
at Greenmount Agricultural College in Antrim, part of Northern
Ireland's College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise for
about 18 months.
The artisan enterprise has been working closely with experts there
on tea cultivation techniques and requirements.
The company will then transfer the plants to its own tea garden at
Portaferry in county Down, near Strangford Lough, an area with a
sheltered micro climate that's mild the year round and frost-free
in winter.
Oscar Woolley, managing director of Suki Teahouse, the artisan
business he founded in 2005 with business partner Anne Irwin at the weekly St George's Farmers' Market in Belfast, has been working on
creating Northern Ireland's first-ever tea garden for the past five years. "It's been a long-term ambition to grow tea in Northern
Ireland.
"We've spent a great deal of time working with the people at Lupondeon learning how to cultivate and grow tea in the quite different
climate of Northern Ireland. Luponde, after all, is 7,000 ft above
sea level, and we reckoned it would be possible to grow tea in what is a very sheltered micro climate around Strangford Lough.
"We found a suitable site and will start preparing the ground in thenear future. We believe that we'll be blending our successful
Belfast Blend tea with our own leaves from Portaferry by 2019. It
will be something unique for Suki and will give us another storylinefor our marketing activities. It's really very exciting and has
created quite a bit of interest within the industry."
Suki has also been gearing up to expand its retail business
following a major contract to supply its Belfast Brew and other
blends to Marks and Spencer throughout the UK. In addition to
supplying tea for foodservice operations in the UK and Ireland and
markets further afield such as Japan, Europe and Africa, the companyretains its stall at St George's Market in Belfast.
closer to growing its own tea in Northern Ireland. The award-winningblender of teas and fruit infusions recently took delivery of the
first 4,000 cuttings from the famed Luponde Tea Garden in Tanzania, one of the world's oldest organic estates.
Suki, winner of 27 UK Great Taste Awards and renowned for its
support of Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance ethical production
standards, will cultivate the cuttings under controlled conditions
at Greenmount Agricultural College in Antrim, part of Northern
Ireland's College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise for
about 18 months.
The artisan enterprise has been working closely with experts there
on tea cultivation techniques and requirements.
The company will then transfer the plants to its own tea garden at
Portaferry in county Down, near Strangford Lough, an area with a
sheltered micro climate that's mild the year round and frost-free
in winter.
Oscar Woolley, managing director of Suki Teahouse, the artisan
business he founded in 2005 with business partner Anne Irwin at the weekly St George's Farmers' Market in Belfast, has been working on
creating Northern Ireland's first-ever tea garden for the past five years. "It's been a long-term ambition to grow tea in Northern
Ireland.
"We've spent a great deal of time working with the people at Lupondeon learning how to cultivate and grow tea in the quite different
climate of Northern Ireland. Luponde, after all, is 7,000 ft above
sea level, and we reckoned it would be possible to grow tea in what is a very sheltered micro climate around Strangford Lough.
"We found a suitable site and will start preparing the ground in thenear future. We believe that we'll be blending our successful
Belfast Blend tea with our own leaves from Portaferry by 2019. It
will be something unique for Suki and will give us another storylinefor our marketing activities. It's really very exciting and has
created quite a bit of interest within the industry."
Suki has also been gearing up to expand its retail business
following a major contract to supply its Belfast Brew and other
blends to Marks and Spencer throughout the UK. In addition to
supplying tea for foodservice operations in the UK and Ireland and
markets further afield such as Japan, Europe and Africa, the companyretains its stall at St George's Market in Belfast.