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We often talk about serendipity in our lives in tea and this is how our story with Kenyan tea starts.  On a summer day a friendly lady wandered in and enquired about our range of Kenyan teas.  Explaining that we only buy from growers or gardens we have visited or have direct relations with she proceeded to share that her relative owned a tea estate in Kenya and enquired if we would like to be connected.  Those of you who know us and follow our story will know what the answer is always....YES!....its only by saying yes on pretty much a daily basis that Comins is...

This Wednesday saw the latest in our #teamasterclass series at our Bath Tea House.  This masterclass focussed on the varied and exciting category of Oolong tea and a great group of tea enthusiasts joined Rob as we talked and tasted our way through 19 Oolong teas - some of which we stock at Comins and some from our sample collection gathered on our travels.  Below are some photos from the event and what follows are some notes for those of you interested to learn more!  Of course at Comins we believe there is no better way to learn that by...

At the end of our trip to China this year we took (quite a major) detour to the Mountain top Chang Shan Ding garden - Tian Tai town in the East of Zhejiang Province, in search of organic Long Jing tea. Having long been a devoted Japanese green tea drinker I was yet to be excited by the profile of Long Jing but this trip was to change that.  On arrival at Chang Shan Ding we were enthusiastically met by Mr Wenxiao Li, incredibly energetic and spritely at 65 - a great advert for a life in tea.  This blog is his story [told to us...

The mainstay of tea in China, small-holders are now on the rise in black tea country of  India, Kenya, Malawi & Sri Lanka.  In the latest of our series 'In their own words | Stories from our partners' we meet Murali Subramanian producing flavourful Nilgiri green and black teas from his 5 acre tea garden in the Nilgiri Mountains of Southern India. Two new teas you can now enjoy at Comins. This in depth journey into Murali's world once again shows the dedication required to bring great tea to your cup.   "My name is Murali Subramanian and I manage our family tea garden near Ooty [Udhagamandalam]...

When you make a cup of tea you may not think too much of where it comes from - the tea industry certainly has a part to play in stimulating this conversation and a long way to go in terms of transparency.  At Comins we believe that it is important to connect you with the people and places that grow the tea you enjoy with us.  Why?  Firstly because our partners have fascinating stories to tell but also because the insights they offer from their daily lives in tea explain why it is more important than ever to know where our...