Blog

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...

Welcome back to our blog!  This is the first of a series of blogs based on topics that we are covering at our Tea House Masterclasses. Tonight we welcomed lots of lovely people to our Bath Tea House to discuss and taste green tea.  This blog covers some of the detail behind our discussions and looks to answer some commonly asked questions. If you fancy coming along to any of our upcoming events at the Tea House then stay up to date on our Facebook Page and Events Page         GREEN TEA OVERVIEW Like white, oolong, and black teas,...

We are very lucky that we are asked a great number of specific questions in our teahouses. One of the most common topics is caffeine. This blog will look to answer these questions and a few more. Firstly, all true teas (teas made from the Camellia Sinensis plant) contain caffeine. Caffeine is a naturally occurring stimulant that is soluble in water and extracted when brewed. Teas in general have around a third of the caffeine of a similar serving of coffee, although as we will see there are many factors which effect this. Simply put, it is not possible to...

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]...