Tea blender geared for festive season growth

SD Bell, one of Ireland's oldest tea blenders and coffee roasters, has seen significant growth in the popularity of its seasonal teas and coffees.

Bell's Christmas Roast, a roast Brazil for espresso, cafetiere or filter, is proving a major sales success. In addition, the company's Christmas Tea, a blend of China and Indian loose leaf teas, has become the preferred choice of consumers.

"Our Christmas Tea is blended with lemon peel, pepper, cinnamon and cloves, the tea equivalent of a mulled wine," says Robert Bell, the company's managing director.

Bell has also introduced a speciality tea bag, Winter Spice Chai, a seasonal spiced blend.

The company, in addition, has developed seasonal hampers, among the most popular with consumers being its Barcelona Hamper, priced at £20. This hamper features a Barcelona Teapot along with its Great Taste Award winning 125g Natural Leaf Tea which can be made up with one of over 50 teas in its impressive portfolio.

The Luxurious Christmas Coffee Hamper contains three Great Taste Award winning coffees, Christmas Roast, Seven Seas Old Java and San Agustin. These are accompanied by a rare, speciality coffee from Finca Alamo single estate in Mexico, a strong, full-flavoured medium roast.

The hamper also includes SD Bell's chocolate bars, and peppermint and Java coffee beans. This hamper is priced at £45.

Bell's has a small-batch roasted coffee for the season - Jamaica Blue Mountain, which is roasted by the company in Belfast and is an extremely rare coffee.

The company, based in Belfast, has been importing tea and roasting coffee since 1887. Bell's is now synonymous with the finest teas and coffees Northern Ireland. It's a fourth generation family business that supplies coffee and tea to consumers as well as leading hotels and restaurants.