December 2009 Archives

Hello America! teapigs will soon be available in the Boston and New York area. One problem - you guys use different barcodes! Never one to turn down a challenge, last Tuesday 4 teapigs, a street dancer and a molecular biologist travelled to Kent to re-sticker 11,000 packs of tea. After a safety briefing from their main man Roy, a bacon sarnie, and a strong cuppa we set about the day's business.

Working our way through the Earl Grey - we soon had a production line in place that Henry Ford would have been proud off.

10 hours later - job done. Home. Bath. Chamomile tea. Bed.

Big congratulations to the lucky winners of our Joules competition...

Winner of £100 Joules vouchers
Wendy, London (hooray!)

Runners up, winning a £20 voucher each:

- Sarah, Kent (get well soon!)
- Anthony, Merseyside
- Jackie, Northamptonshire
- Yvonne, Lancashire
- Chris, London

Very well done - now get shopping... and Happy Christmas, Sofia x

Now, I really don't get this latest "innovation", the plastic wrapped banana from Del Monte. Yes, they've taken a product that is perfectly wrapped by nature and added a non biodegradable plastic covering. The reason? To stop it going brown too quickly. It's being tested in 7-11 convenience stores in Dallas. Let's hope the citizens of Dallas tell the man from Del Monte to keep his bananas naturally fresh. Or maybe you think otherwise? (posted by Nick)

ho ho ho. Just been watching the grow your own christmas drugs (??) programme and saw these little festive beauties... holly truffles... technically yerba mate truffles ( yerba mate is similar to the holly bush)
The recipe is below..... Off to make truffles now!

Pick Me Up Yerba Mate and Chilli Truffles

2 medium dried chillies or ½ tsp ground chilli flakes
1 vanilla pod, split in half
1 whole allspice
3 tbsp eucalyptus honey
50g yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) tea leaves ( available from www.teapigs.co.uk)
1 litre boiling water
200g dark chocolate (85% cocoa solids)
3 tsp soft brown sugar
1 tsp cocoa powder

1. Mix the chilli, vanilla pod, allspice and honey together in a pan, then add the yerba mate and boiling water. Simmer until the liquid reduces to approximately 150ml - this will take about 45 minutes. Strain and leave to cool to room temperature.

2. Put the chocolate in a glass heat-proof bowl, and melt over a pan of hot water.

3. Stir the cooled mate mixture into the melted chocolate, then refrigerate until it takes on a fudge-like consistency (about 30 minutes).

4. Mix the soft brown sugar and cocoa powder in a shallow bowl. Scoop a teaspoon of the truffle mixture and roll into a small ball, then roll in the sugar/cocoa powder to coat. Place each coated truffle in a small paper case. Repeat until all the mixture is used.

5. Once reheated, add the echinacea-infused rum and butter until melted. Stir, then serve in a large cup.

Myself and Sofia fell in love with Spoiltpig when we came across their stall at the Taste of Christmas show last week.

Spoiltpig is the fantastic work of Denhay Farms who have created a range of "brilliant british bacon". They pride themselves on sourcing bacon from pigs which have been reared outdoors and compared to other intensively farmed piggies :( , have had a lovely quality of life outdoors snuffling the ground and rolling in mud! They also get to live in fancy barns with lots of warm straw to keep them cosy. Because of this great standard of animal welfare, Spoiltpig proudly carries the RSPCA Freedom Food mark.
And it has to be said, happy pigs make tasty pigs - hand-cured Spoiltpig bacon is scrumtious! So next Sunday evening, draw the curtains, put the fire on, make a pot of your fave teapigs tea and indugle in a delicous bacon sarnie! Yum!

written by Hannah (who clearly ain't a vegetarian!)

At spirit of christmas I bumped into our biggest peppermint tea fan becky, turned out that becky is so much more than a teapigs fan. She was at spirit to sell the ultimate designer handbags under the brilliantly named 'bens sister' brand - her brother is called ben, genius.

She makes the most beautiful individually designed handbags. You can choose from lots of quality leathers & linings or have Ben's Sister source fabrics to suit your needs. You can specify size, shape, style or adapt one of her designs... Each and every piece is handmade personally by Ben's Sister - so much better than a designer handbag which everyone else has.

Ben sister have given us a discount which gets all the teapigs fans 15% off until 30th march - just mention teapigs.
www.benssister.co.uk

(posted by louise- handbag lover!)

My name is Hannah and I am the newest addition to the lovely teapig clan! Having recently finished my degree in human nutrition at Newcastle University I have settled back in foggy old London town and so far so good!

Some important things you need to know about me are:
- My name can be spelt the same backwards as it can forwards!
- I can't sing!
- and most importantly...I LOVE TEA!

My first day in the office has been great and exceeded all my tea expectations - I think I'm on my 5th cup! On Friday, the 'Tea Ambassador' Sofia and I are getting festive and are off to a Taste of Christmas to spread the teapig gospel - hope to see you there!

In the meantime, here is a bit of trivia for you...

Q: What is my favourite teapig tea???

One lucky teapig fan who answers correctly will win a pack of our spiced winter tea....perfect for chasing away those winter chills!

Answers to hannah@teapigs.co.uk please.

Hoorah! We have 800 names to our Real Tea Mission Petition, thank you all very much for signing up and spreading the word. We still need another 9,200. Phew!
Please let your friends and family know that they can receive a free pack of English Breakfast with their order if they sign the petition and they can amuse us with their comments like this one from Louisa C, "real tea + teapot + cold and rainy outside/warm and cosy inside = happiness"...aaaaaahh.