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

Coffee Stories - Matt Carroll and Helen Coburn of Fortitude Coffee

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!

Today's 'Coffee Story' features Matt Carroll and Helen Coburn of  Fortitude Coffee.

Helen Coburn &
Matt Carroll - Photo by
Jess Shurte as part of our
Coffee Hot Shots series

Intro: Fortitude Coffee is a speciality coffee bar and micro roastery based in Edinburgh. In our coffee shop we make espresso-based coffees on our la Marzocco Linea PB and offer filter coffees using Kalita Wave, batch brew and also offer cold brew - all using filtered water and single origin Fortitude Coffee Roasters beans. Our coffee is seasonal and we feature a different guest roaster each month.

What year did you switch on to speciality coffee and what attracted you to the speciality coffee business? We've been involved in speciality coffee since opening our coffee shop in 2014. We believe that good coffee is a simple pleasure to be enjoyed everyday and we wanted to provide this for our customers. More recently we started roasting as well.

What made you make the move from coffee shop to roasting as well? Roasting allows us to learn more about each coffee we serve and we enjoy passing this knowledge onto our customers. We were also excited that roasting provides us with the opportunity to tailor our coffee and serve more of the coffees we love. Through the experience of roasting our own coffee and then using it in our shop, we've been able to see how our coffee performs over time and how customers respond to it. We've tweaked and evolved our approach to roasting in a way we could never have done if we didn't use our coffee day in day out, always looking to make the best drink we can for our customers.

Photo: Fortitude Coffee

How would you describe Fortitude Coffee (your beans)? We always try to offer sweet, developed roasts and make our coffee approachable and ultimately enjoyable. The beans we use are lightly roasted to bring out the delicate and complex flavours of the coffee. We generally offer three different single origin roasts at any time and change them seasonally. Our coffees work well with all brew methods but we always have one that lends itself best to espresso and two to filter.

What do you love most about being in the speciality coffee business? Creativity, passion and attention to detail.

What tips would you give coffee lovers? Buy a set of coffee scales. Taking an extra few seconds to weigh out your coffee and water will make all the difference to your brews - both flavour and consistency.

What tips would you give people considering a career in coffee? Always be willing to learn and be open to new ideas. The speciality coffee industry is changing all the time and there's a real opportunity to increase your knowledge and skills, but also try new things that you can come up with yourself.

Any other pearls of wisdom? Your customers are the most important part of your day so don't forget them!

Fortitude Coffee will be taking a stand at the Edinburgh Coffee Festival on 14 October.

Matt at his coffee roaster - Fortitude Coffee

Coffee Stories - SCA Course - Introduction to Coffee

Photo: SCA

For the first time, the Edinburgh Coffee Festival is partnering with the Speciality Coffee Association (SCA) to run their Introduction to coffee course, at the Corn Exchange, as part of the day. And there's a very sound rationale.

The increasing number of people seeking out speciality coffee is not looking like slowing down any time soon. Around 2.3 billion coffees are bought in shops across the UK each year, and we're seeing more high quality coffee shops opening across Scotland all the time. So a career in the coffee industry is sought after by many and finding and keeping talented staff, critical to the success of our coffee shops.

And coffee drinkers aren't just getting choosier about their coffee shops, they're also getting more discerning and adventurous with the coffee they're making at home.

The cost of home coffee equipment is getting more affordable as technology improves. And manual brewing is even less expensive using kit such as V60, Chemex, Kalita Wave and Aeropress. Home brewers are turning their attention (and their money) toward trying different roasters, origins and flavour profiles as they tinker with their grind size and timing, seeking the perfect extraction.

Jim Watson - SCA Trainer

So if you want to polish up your skills and knowledge, here's the run down:

• There are 60 positions available for the half-day course - 30 in the morning, and 30 in the afternoon
• It's a bargain at £60! Normally this course is around twice the cost 
• Two extremely knowledgeable coffee professionals who are also SCA qualified trainers will lead the sessions - Jim Watson who heads up The Scottish Barista Academy and Alex Passmore Head Trainer at Origin Coffee Roasters
• A ticket to the Coffee Festival is included in the cost of the course
• You'll learn about how coffee has evolved from its origins in Ethiopia to the major commodity it is today
• And understand the process from picking the coffee cherries through drying, roasting, brewing and finally drinking
• The course includes a coffee 'cupping' so you'll experience how professionals distinguish flavour and aroma. 
• The Introduction to Coffee course is a first step on SCA Coffee Diploma System certification 

Find out more about the SCA Introduction to Coffee Course.

Book a place at the Edinburgh Coffee Festival on 14 October before they sell out!

Alex Passmore - SCA Trainer
Photo: Sprudge

Photo: SCA

Coffee Stories - Gareth & Angharad from Carvetii Coffee

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 specialty coffee scene great. They're a passionate and varied bunch!

Today's 'Coffee Story' features Angharad MacDonald & Gareth Kemble, owners and founders of Carvetii Coffee located in Keswick.

Photo: Westmoreland Gazette

Intro: We are speciality coffee roasters, though our business now includes the supply, maintenance and repair of espresso machines and associated equipment. We provide a range of training courses to both wholesale and home customers and have more recently started dabbling in loose leaf tea. Increasingly we are providing consultancy support for new start-ups.

What year did you switch on to specialty coffee? We've always been speciality coffee roasters. In fact we adhere so closely to the ethos of speciality coffee that in six years of trading, we have yet to sell a bag of ground coffee.

What attracted you to the specialty coffee business? We roast the coffee we enjoy drinking, in a way that suits our preference. It just happens that we enjoy speciality coffee. We don't try to be all things to all people. If we don't enjoy a coffee then we won't sell it. We also felt that the speciality sector provides a sustainable future for the industry.

What do you love most about it now? It's what we don't like that drives us on. So many in the industry seem to want to out-do others, and in doing so I fear a large part of our sector is distancing itself   from the majority of coffee drinkers. We are a coffee drinkers' speciality roaster - no pretension, just well developed, accessible coffee which reflects the origin from where it was sourced.

What tips would you give coffee lovers? It's been said so many times, but it is probably the best tip we can offer - invest in the best grinder you can afford. Also stick to hand brewed coffee for home use and leave espresso to your favourite coffee shop.

What tips would you give people considering a career in coffee? Work your way through the ranks and don't try to run before you can walk! Get as much experience as possible across the whole spectrum of the industry. We spent a year working for a coffee chain before opening our business. Ok, the coffee wasn't great but we learnt so much about systems, workflow and marketing from that period.

Any other pearls of wisdom? It's not just about the roaster. When we started our business the industry seemed to   be excited about the origin. Farmers were at last elevated to their rightful place and we recognised how the flavour of the coffee was influenced at origin. While the growth in micro roasters is no doubt a good thing for our industry, there seems to be too much attention given to this aspect of the coffee chain. If you love coffee start exploring origin characteristics more - try different processing methods, or why not compare an AA Kenyan to an AB Kenyan?

The Carvetii team will be taking a stand at the Edinburgh Coffee Festival on 14 October.

Coffee Stories - Louise Campbell from Tasty Buns Bakery

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

Our first 'Coffee Story' features Louise Campbell, owner, barista and baker extraordinaire of Tasty Buns Bakery - 67 Bread Street, Edinburgh.

Intro: We are a small coffee shop using a blend roasted by Mr Eion and we do all our own baking onsite.

When did you switch on to specialty coffee? Personally, probably when I moved to Edinburgh in 2011. I was never a huge coffee drinker myself until I hit University and the choice of great little spots in Edinburgh opens up your mind to a whole new side of coffee - or at least that's what I found!? Maybe I just matured with age! When we got the keys for our shop on Bread Street, the first thing we did was a tasting with Mr Eion - I was up for using someone local and passionate and he fitted the bill!

What attracted you to opening a coffee shop? I originally moved to Edinburgh to study for a Masters in Forensic Anthropology - which I was enjoying - but that was when I started baking and using it as a *slight* distraction from essays and coursework. When I figured I was pretty good at it, and that people actually really liked eating it, I finished my course early and started working in some cafes around Edinburgh whilst looking for the right space for us to start in. I had always wanted to work with food but my mother was a Chef and she always said 'No - it's rubbish hours and not great pay. Do something with your Science!'

What do you like most about it now? I love it. But the best bit has to be our customers. We have only been open just over a year now but we already have a wonderful bunch of regulars (even ones who have helped us carry a big new mixer that arrived for us from sitting outside the shop to our kitchen downstairs). I also love getting out and doing events such as the Edinburgh Coffee Festival. It's a nice change of scenery and pace and it gives us the opportunity to talk about what we love most - baked goodies!

What tips would you give people considering a career in coffee and cake? I would say that without a doubt opening Tasty Buns Bakery is the best and the hardest thing I have ever done. There is always going to be comparisons to other coffee shops and cafes so I think the most important thing is to have faith - believe in the product you make and sell. Keep experimenting - that's what keeps the love for what you do alive. And...... I would say always keep an eye on what's going on with the Coffee and Food scene in Edinburgh - it is always changing and evolving and that is a WONDERFUL thing!

Any other pearls of wisdom? Get an Aeropress. Best thing I ever bought. Delicious coffee at home, but also anywhere else your heart desires!? It's genius. And always *slightly* under-bake your Brownies and then leave them overnight to set before cutting them!

Louise and Tasty Buns Bakery will be taking a stand at the Edinburgh Coffee Festival on 14 October.

Photos: Louise Campbell