Suki Tea launches two indulgent cocoa tea blends

Suki Tea, the award winning Northern Irish boutique blender, has launched two cocoa based teas inspired by light and dark chocolate. The gourmet business, based in Belfast, has blended cocoa kernels to create two chocolate blends as the start of a new range of teas being planned for 2014.

The company, winner of a string of UK Great Taste Awards over the past five years for high quality loose leaf tea blends and original fruit infusions, began work on the two cocoa teas last year as a research and development project. The new blends are now being marketed by the company on-line and direct sales.

Oscar Woolley, Suki Tea managing director, commenting on the new products, says: "We've been considering blending tea and cocoa kernelsfor some time and decided to focus resources on it last autumn with a view to a launch early this year. It's been a tasty journey."

"We set out to be adventurous, to create a quite different flavour, our own chocolate tasting tea. Using cocoa as an indulgent starting point we created a subtle spiced choc chai and a full flavoured dark chocolate. Both were superb and quite different flavours, so we thought, why not launch them both….and just in time for Valentine's Day!

"The dark choice, Dark Cocoa Tea, is a blend of black tea and bitter cocoa kernels for a distinctively chocolaty cuppa. The lighter choice, Spiced Cocoa-Chai is a mellow herbal blend of delicate spices and cocoa which offers a warm sweet treat that's also certified 100% Organic and caffeine-free."

Formed in 2005 by Mr Woolley and business partner Anne Rooney, Suki Tea supplies foodservice organizations, gourmet stores and delis throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. Teas and infusions are also supplied by the company to clients in other parts of Europe, Japan and Africa.

In addition to UK Great Taste Awards, the company, based in west Belfast, has won a Quality Food and Drink Award for its Earl Grey Blue Flower tea. The company has achieved SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) accreditation, an assessment process for smaller food companies, which ensures consistently quality services for customers.