I spent an exciting and fun filled youth in Hong Kong with my mother, stepfather and & siblings experiencing the culture, fabulous weather, the adrenaline boasting hustle and bustle and the pure thrill of the place. To top it off having a brother in the Royal Navy out there allowing us to enjoy pool parties and an amazing social experience never to be forgotten.
During this time, I discovered Tea, not like the stuff at home but fabulous loose leaf with amazing taste. We drank, ate, and laughed in quirky little cafes a time I wouldn’t give up for anything.
A very sad time when we left Hong Kong, never to recovered, but never to be forgotten. The culture and of course the tea stayed with me.
I opened my first coffee shop in suburban Newcastle, tried to introduce teas but it was much before the UK was ready.
I sold my little coffee shop when I had my Alexander, then Tabitha another amazing time in life, when I spent a few years just soaking up all the fab experiences of having children.
I felt perhaps it was time to try and introduce the tea experience, to the UK again, so people could enjoy specialist teas fruit and herbal infusions.
Specialised teas had started to become more popular in the UK having already established themselves in Europe. I was now getting more interested in the herbal, /fruit well-being infusions, I found it exciting as there were so may options.
In 2006 I sourced tea suppliers around the world and began my Tea Journey. We opened “Sencha” the first specialist tea shop in Newcastle, against many warnings that Northerners were not ready for such a cosmopolitan venue. We offered 40 different teas, infusions and eight different flowering teas. People loved it, they loved watching the tea flowers unfold and blossom in the glass teapots. The whole experience of drinking loose leaf tea is a relaxing “Me Time” experience where customers could reflect on their lives or maybe just the events of the day.
We decided to sell Sencha and concentrate on the website and the trade side of the business, that’s when we launched loveleaftea.com.
We opened 'Chai' an amazing little tea shop offering 40 great teas, and now offering Matcha, Chai and Rooibos lattes. We would like to open more tea on the go where people can all drink our Great tea every day. Keep your eye out for our loveleaftea pods popping up.
Mel X