PekoeTea – based in Edinburgh, Scotland – opened a new tea studio on Sept. 24, to provide a world-class venue for bespoke tea tasting and blending sessions.
The striking studio on Edinburgh’s Leith Walk is a specially designed space that showcases PekoeTea’s range of teas with a stone-topped central counter, at which customers can sit and experience flavors ranging from white, green, black and oolong teas to Kinnettles Gold Scottish Grown Tea, Cherry Sencha Green Tea, Chocolate & Coconut Black Tea and a range of single malt whisky teas.
With a sleek hot water tap dispensing water at a variety of temperatures, teas are brewed especially for visitors, who will gain an insight into the unique teas and blending process behind PekoeTea.
Customers will also be able to see the dedicated blending area, with walls clad with more than 30 base teas, 20 flowers, 10 fruit flavors and a variety of oils, which combine to provide notes for PekoeTea’s range of teas.
Group or bespoke tea tastings at the studio will allow visitors to find their favorite flavors, while tea blending sessions will allow customers to develop their own blend – all under the expert eye of the PekoeTea team.
‘A Base for Us to Share Our Blending Processes’
Co-owner Esther Kungu Cooper explained, “Our new tea studio will provide a base for us to share our blending processes and work more creatively as a team but, most importantly it will be a destination for tea lovers and aims to bring people together over delicious tea. We want to draw back the curtain on tea blending, revealing some of the aromas and flavors, which go into creating the perfect blend. This project has been planned for over 18 months, so we’re delighted to open the doors and share our love of teas from across the world with a wider audience.”
PekoeTea is run by Esther Kungu Cooper and Jon Cooper, who started the company more than 11 years ago with a base on Edinburgh’s Leven Street. Both have developed a unique blending process that allows them to create their own flavors (instead of simply buying in pre-flavored teas), alongside sourcing single estate teas from around the world.
PekoeTea also creates unique blends for some of Scotland’s most prestigious hotels and venues – including The Royal Yacht Britannia, Edinburgh’s Waldorf Astoria and Glasgow’s Mackintosh at The Willow. PekoeTea has also supplied tea to the Japanese Embassy with Kinnettles Gold Scottish Grown Tea.
With a nod to Japanese tea ceremonies, the studio has been developed by award-winning interior designers, Splintr, who added a washi paper screen and high oak shelves – lined with tea caddies – that reach up towards the original Victorian cornices.
The studio will also allow the team to provide specialist training for wholesale clients and produce online workshops that can be used to spread the word to the company’s increasingly global audience.
To learn more about PekoeTea, visit PekoeTea.co.uk.