Choosing the right tea

With over fifty teas and bespoke blends to choose from, here Orange Pekoe founder Marianna Hadjigeorgiou offers some advice to help you get started.

Where is a good place for a tea novice to start?

We always have set questions we ask tea novice: how do they drink their tea – black or with milk? This is the main starting point - if they want something with milk, we suggest that they try a single estate black tea rather than a classic blend. If they are willing to try something without milk, then we discuss our wonderful green teas and Oolong teas.

We always encourage our tearoom customers to smell the teas and look in the large caddies - it really helps a lot to actually see and smell the tea! Our tea wheel, which outlines different aromas, tea tasting notes and more, is also a very useful reference when exploring our collection of teas.

What is your favourite tea?

It depends on the time of day and my mood. First thing in the morning I start the day with our single estate Assam Nahorabi (our best-selling Assam tea) - it is malty and sweet and strong and a great way to start the day. 

In the afternoon I move over to a single estate Ceylon tea (Ceylon Kenilworth) which is lighter, flowery and more delicate. By the evening, when I am at my desk, I move over to our herbal infusions and enjoy our Lemon Verbena, and at bedtime I religiously drink our Sleep Time Herbal Infusion; it’s a combination of lemon balm, heather herb, peppermint, chamomile, orange blossoms and blackcurrant leaves, and always leaves me feeling calm and relaxed after a busy day!

What are your bestsellers?

The classics are our best sellers – our English Breakfast, Earl Grey and some of our single estate Assams and Ceylons. We have so many stunning teas. Just as wine is made from different grape varieties, there are different varieties of camellia sinensis (the botanical name for the tea plant) that suit different climates and processing methods, so we really do have something to suit every different taste preference, budget and level of knowledge.

Some of our customers are prepared to spend hundreds of pounds on teas, and some just want to pick up a small pouch for far less! We cater for both tea novices and tea connoisseurs alike, and at our tearoom there is always a trained tea sommelier on hand to guide our guests on their tea journey.

Once I’ve chosen my tea, how do I brew loose leaf at home?

All of our teas are available to purchase loose and have specific brewing instructions on the packaging as different teas require different brewing conditions – e.g. water temperature, the length of brewing time, etc. We do not believe in leaving the tea in the pot as this can causing over steeping and bitterness in the tea!

Our biodegradable tea bags are incredibly easy to use at home. Simply add the tea leaves, follow the brewing instructions and dispose of the bag. You can purchase our beautiful teas and accessories and explore the rest of our collection at our tearoom or in our online shop here.