Tea Story - Erica Moore of Eteaket

In the lead up to this year's Edinburgh Coffee Festival on 14 October, we're publishing regular stories about some of the people that are involved, and that make our speciality coffee scene great. They're a passionate and varied bunch!

Erica Moore in the Eteaket
Concept store
Photo: Eteaket

But we also have a great speciality tea scene in Edinburgh so today's 'Tea Story' features Erica Moore of Eteaket who have a Tea Room in Frederick Street and a Concept Store Rose Street Edinburgh

What's Eteaket all about? We're on a mission to create an innovative and modern British tea culture with quality, ethical leaf tea and exciting experiences and products that make the everyday better for everyone. You can enjoy our tea, tea cocktails and Afternoon Tea in our Tea Room, find the perfect tea or gift in our Concept Store, buy online or enjoy a pot of eteaket in one of hundreds of amazing cafes and restaurants that we supply in most parts of the UK.

When did you start Eteaket and what attracted you to the speciality tea business? I started Eteaket in 2008, after I had a sneaking suspicion that a life in the tea world might be slightly more fun than a life in law (turns out not all lawyers get to live like Ali McBeal). Once I tasted proper whole leaf tea I was hooked. Since then, thanks to our amazing team, our journey has taken us on our own tea pilgrimage to China, India, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Japan in search of the best leaves and we have been privileged enough to have met some of the best Tea Masters and teachers in the world along the way.

Photo: Eteaket

How would you describe our teas and how they differ from other speciality teas? We’re quite innovative in our approach to tea and love to collaborate with like-minded businesses. Our aim is to make people as excited about leaf tea as we are, whether that’s starting with some flavoured teas or going straight to higher end single estate teas.

What's involved in selecting and creating your speciality teas? A lot of hard work. We’re constantly tasting, sampling and experimenting and even get to visit tea gardens occasionally. Last year we created our Isle of Harris Gin Tea using the botanicals that go into the amazing Isle of Harris Gin. I even got to go out with the diver for the magic ingredient – sugar sea kelp. Our most recent blend was our Tomatin Whisky Tea - Europe’s first barrel aged tea. We created a black tea blend that we suspend inside Tomatin Whisky barrels. By letting the tea age in the barrels in naturally absorbs the scent of the whisky. We obviously had to consume a fair amount of whisky in the experimenting process…

Eteaket chai
Photo: Eteaket

What do you love most about being in the speciality tea business? I absolutely love doing something that I’m passionate about and have a real drive to play my part in making the tea scene exciting again so that the tea industry is sustainable and tea garden workers can have the best standard of living possible.

What tips would you give tea lovers? Buy yourself an infuser teapot or mug, pick three loose leaf teas you’ve never tried before, take a little time for yourself and get brewing. I promise you’ll never go back to tea bags again! Keep experimenting whether it’s making tea lattes, steeping some cold brew teas or even making some tea cocktails. We run private tea training classes, blending workshops and tea cocktail session in our Concept Store – or just pop in and have a chat.

Photo: Eteaket

What tips would you give people considering a career in tea? Do it. The tea industry needs to grow and it needs more independent companies working together to help grow the market. It’s a very varied career and the possibilities are endless. I’m off to Japan in November to chat about tea! Between trips overseas, drinking unlimited amounts of tea every day and quality checking the cakes in our Tea Room the ‘job’ certainly does have its perks.

Any other pearls of wisdom? Get a loose leaf travel flask so you’re never with good tea. As long as you’ve got tea with you anything is possible.

Eteaket  will be have a stand at the Edinburgh Coffee Festival on 14 October.

Photo: Eteaket