March 2010 Archives

Two weeks ago, Alex travelled up North to speak with A-level business students from Notre Dame College about the recent success of the UK speciality tea market. This not only presented Alex with an excellent opportunity to show his former school that he had finally grown up, but also allowed him to spread the word about real tea - a far cry from the dust filled teabags of yester-year.

One cheeky chappy, Luke, put himself forward to direct the first teapigs TV commercial (he might have a long wait), whilst another student immediately rushed off to Harvey Nichs in search of some Super Fruit.

Alex's old business studies teacher Tony "the tiger" Ryland (known for his ferocious monday morning current affairs tests) even popped in to enquire about teapigs' ethical policies & pricing strategies.

Free pack of English Breakfast to the first person who can identify Alex in the above photo.

With just one month to go before we choose the winning design for our "design us a real tea print" competition, we thought we'd post some of the designs we've received so far... they will appear on the blog so keep watching this space:

Want to have a go at designing us a "real tea print"? The winning designer will win £100 and the winning design will be printed and sold on our wesbite. It will also be displayed in cafes and delis that stock teapigs. Read more here.

The recipes from our matcha chef catty keep on coming. Make sure to check out her blog http://www.thecattylife.com/

matcha latte

2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup white chocolate, grated or finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon matcha powder
optional 1/4 cup espresso (I didn't use this)
For the froth:
1 cup whole milk

1.Put the matcha powder in one pot, set aside.
2. In another pot, heat the heavy cream and milk, bring to boil, then turn off the heat.
Immediately add the white chocolate and stir until melted. Add the vanilla extract, keep stirring.
3. If including espresso, add now and mix well.
4. Slowly pour a small amount of the milk mixture into the matcha powder pot. With a small amount of milk, stir until the matcha powder is dissolved. Add the rest of the milk and stir.
5. For the froth, heat 1 cup of whole milk all the while whisking over the heat. Do not let the milk boil or burn. As the milk becomes hot, turn off the heat and continue whisking (I used a little hand held battery operated whisk). You should get a decent amount of solid foam from this. Also, whole milk will yield more foam as the more fat content the milk has, the foamier it will be.
6. Pour two glasses of matcha latte and top with froth.

As you may have noticed our matcha chef extraordinaire Catty has sent us lots of great matcha recipes. Here's her latest...

matcha butter cookies

200 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
50 grams icing sugar
150 grams plain flour
50 grams corn flour
1/2 teaspooon vanilla extract
1/4 Tablespoon matcha powder

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/355°F.
2. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
3. Beat butter and icing sugar together until creamy.
4. Sift in flour and corn flour, and add vanilla extract. Mix well until dough is formed.
5. Add matcha to the dough.
6. Using your hands, make little balls and lay on tray about 3-4 cms apart.
7. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the sides are slightly brown.
8. Remove the entire sheet from baking tray and transfer to wire rack to cool.
9. Store in an airtight container.

Like this? Try...
matcha whoopie piematcha rice krispie squares

Squeak, squeak. I'm in cheese heaven. Just received this lovely parcel of scrummy cheeses from the kind people at Neals Yard Dairy. So guess what we're all having for lunch today? Thanks guys. (posted by Nick)

world's best food

Do you wish you could shop at a farmer's market every week but either don't have one near enough or just don't have the time? Well the Virtual Farmers Market is the next best thing. The VFM is a fabulous new website that allows you to 'meet' the people that produce their food & drink via video streams and buy delicious produce from the comfort of your own home. There are over 50 of the UK's finest food and drink producers (including teapigs) to choose from and if you place an order before 31st March quoting the promotion code TP1003 you'll get a lovely 20% off anything you order. So click here and start filling up your basket with some scrummy foods.

Between 18th and 21st March we will be at Earl's Court London showing off our super duper matcha at The Vitality Show. We have not one, not two but SEVEN pairs of tickets for some lucky teapigs fans to get their hands on!
Now, our lovely friend Catty has been making and blogging about lots of delicious recipes involving teapigs matcha....so all we want you to do is come up with some scrumtious recipe ideas of your own that include matcha!
The person who comes up with the recipe idea that we think sounds the yummiest will win a pair of tickets for the day of their choice AND get their recipe made by Catty! Six runners up will then each win a pair of weekday tickets to the show.

Please send all entries to hannah@teapigs.com... Good luck everyone!

So lots of you have been asking for whoopee pie ( well perhaps not lots... just a few).
Not having the faintest idea how to make a whoopie pie we enlisted the help of catty the domestic goddess to fashion a wonderful matcha whoopie pie......

How to make these beauties in your own kitchen.

matcha whoopie pies

2 cups plain flour
1/4 cup teapigs matcha powder
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk (I used natural yoghurt as a buttermilk substitute)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
110 grams unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
For the filling:
110 grams unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cup icing sugar
2 cups marshmallow fluff
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 175°C/350°F.

Mix together flour, baking soda, matcha powder and salt in a bowl until combined.
In another bowl, stir together buttermilk (or substitute) and vanilla extract.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes), then add the egg and beat until well combined.
Reduce the speed to low and mix in the flour, alternately adding the buttermilk mixture as well. Mix until smooth.
Scoop 1/4 cup portions of batter and lay on baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake in pre-heated oven for about 12 minutes, or until the cake bounces back when touched.
When ready, remove from oven and cool on wire rack.
For the filling, beat together the butter, icing sugar, marshmallow fluff and vanilla extract until smooth.
Spread the filling on a flat side of a cake, and top with another portion of cake.

see how catty did it...