that driftwood tea blog


The adventures and realities of owning and running driftwood tea
written by James Henderson Robe

driftwood tea | taste fresher teas

On The Road And Buying Tea - Part 1

Do you not just love the feeling of waking up and not knowing where you actually are? Perhaps this sensation is more generally attributed to drunks, or prostitutes, though it’s also an occupational hazard for tea importers too! As I awoke yesterday, bleary eyed from my slumber, I slowly began to remember the incredible journey I have undertaken over the past 2.5 days, well off the tourist trail, and into Thailand’s emerging tea growing north…

Read the rest of Kelda’s adventure at driftwood tea

creativorigins asked: Hey James. I really admire that you started a business after all. It takes GUTS to start a business. :) Much success. Why did you decide that this was the business for you?

Hey Luis,

I began drinking loose leaf tea at university. Initially it was classical black tea blends however from this I began to discover oolong, green and silver needle white tea. I then began learning and tasting as much as I could.

At university I ran a business that supplied bands to venues. When I graduated, instead of getting a job, I was fortunate to be able to send myself to catering school.

While studying at Le Cordon Bleu I attended a lecture by Thomas Badcock, a cheese supplier, known around London’s finest restaurants as Tom The Cheese Man.

Tom’s enthusiasm and knowledge were infectious; I know I was not the only person he inspired that day. Tom not only introduced me to the world of artisan cheeses - which I now eat far too much of - but also engendered a desire to become as knowledgable and as passionate about loose leaf tea as he was cheese.

Leaving catering school I became the Dutch Ambassador’s Personal Chef. I was fortunate that the Ambassador and his wife had a passion for tea and contemporary cuisine. They were very happy for me to try and source the rarest teas I could, as well as incorporate these into the cuisine I prepared at their official residence.

Over the past 10 or so years I have travelled, tasted and learned as much as I could about loose leaf tea. During this time I would often buy larger quantities of rare speciality teas and sell any extra to my friends or other chefs. (I knew someone who did something similar at university - not quite with tea - but perhaps not surprisingly he’s now in jail!)

Last summer I required a major operation on my knee to repair a 15 year old rugby injury. Knowing I would be housebound for several months I decided to finally set up my own online tea shop. driftwood, or similar, had been something I’d wanted to establish for well over 5 years but there were always reasons as to why it wasn’t the right time. 

As cliched as it sounds, the hardest part was simply the decision to start. Saying that, I rarely find myself believing this when: shipments go missing; our website crashes; I’m negotiating Chinese shipping rates etc! However, now driftwood is running, while I’ve only had 1 full day off in the last year, I love what I do and I love that others are enjoying this too.

The simplest answer as to why I decided this was the business for me is, I love tea. There is a moment when you serve a tea, perhaps to someone who’s only experienced black bagged or bitter green teas before and they say ‘I never knew tea could taste like this!’

This is why I now do what I do.

James

One Year Of driftwood tea

It was one year ago today, on the 13th June 2011, that I came up with the name driftwood tea and decide to pursue full time a career that encapsulated my love of the loose leaf. Despite many difficulties, and on occasions some stress, it has never been a decision that I’ve regretted - much! (I suppose having a lot of tea on hand has probably helped during the more demanding periods!)

Truthfully I chose the name driftwood simply because it sounded nice. It’s certainly nicer than the James Robe Tea Company and other names I had been considering. I also liked how driftwood looked on paper. It was only retrospectively that others have suggested the name seemed to fit me quite perfectly.

Driftwood is naturally worn. Each piece is unique with its beauty developing throughout its uncontrolled journey. On my own journey I have been: the Dutch Ambassador’s Personal Chef; I signed the band Snow Patrol; had Pippa Middleton act as my intern for the day (sadly not at driftwood) - as well as many other highs and lows.

Yet, over the last decade, tea has played a constant role in my life and it seems right that the culmination of this journey has been the creation of driftwood tea.

click driftwood tea to read more

Homemade iced tea is remarkably simple to make. Unlike store bought versions - that often contain more sugar and colourings than anything that’s actually come from the Camellia Sinensis plant - natural iced tea can be just as sweet, with an amazing depth of flavour yet, is calorie free and contains all the health benefits of freshly brewed tea. I drink cold brewed iced tea all year round. It makes for an amazingly refreshing drink, can be used as a great base for cocktails, and I even make deserts with it (try using it instead of sherry in a summer fruits trifle). Over the summer I perhaps drinking as much iced tea as I do hot!Cold brewing goes completely against the British institution that is ‘freshly boiled water must be used when preparing tea!’ As most tea lovers know, boiled water is not always the friend of delicate the loose leaf. Certain types of tea do require a cooler water temperature lest they turn bitter - the reason so many people claim not to like green tea.  Click homemade iced tea to discover how to cold brew and make your own iced teas

Homemade iced tea is remarkably simple to make. Unlike store bought versions - that often contain more sugar and colourings than anything that’s actually come from the Camellia Sinensis plant - natural iced tea can be just as sweet, with an amazing depth of flavour yet, is calorie free and contains all the health benefits of freshly brewed tea. 

I drink cold brewed iced tea all year round. It makes for an amazingly refreshing drink, can be used as a great base for cocktails, and I even make deserts with it (try using it instead of sherry in a summer fruits trifle). 

Over the summer I perhaps drinking as much iced tea as I do hot!

Cold brewing goes completely against the British institution that is ‘freshly boiled water must be used when preparing tea!’ As most tea lovers know, boiled water is not always the friend of delicate the loose leaf. Certain types of tea do require a cooler water temperature lest they turn bitter - the reason so many people claim not to like green tea. 

Click homemade iced tea to discover how to cold brew and make your own iced teas

A power cut this afternoon here at driftwood tea left us without computers, wifi, and - gasp - no kettle! We’d also consumed all the overnight, cold infused, Dong Ding iced tea that we’d made, to enjoy later in the afternoon, yet had drunk before lunch simply because it was delicious and we were hot! Click teapot to read more

A power cut this afternoon here at driftwood tea left us without computers, wifi, and - gasp - no kettle! We’d also consumed all the overnight, cold infused, Dong Ding iced tea that we’d made, to enjoy later in the afternoon, yet had drunk before lunch simply because it was delicious and we were hot!

Click teapot to read more

New Harvest Teas: From Sample To Sale

From when I first sample a new harvest loose leaf tea, to receiving my first shipment of it in the UK, during that period of waiting I always feel a real sense of childish excitement as I imagine the journey it’s making half way around the world. 

Drinking new harvest teas at this time of year, in the UK, is still fairly astonishing. I find it remarkable to think that 10 or so years ago, when I first started sourcing loose leaf tea - and perhaps up until even 5 years ago - that outside of Asia it was rare that you were able to find or drink loose leaf leaves this fresh. Quite literally only a couple of week after they have been harvested and crafted into their delicate final product. 

Click Online Tea Shop to read the rest of this post!

To celebrate the arrival of the 2012 spring harvest of teas we decided to update all of our images on the driftwood tea website.  Tea essentially is a product to be consumed however, selling it online there are obviously some limitations to trying it before purchase. Every tea I select for driftwood I have done so because I believe it tastes fantastic. While I try to describe them as honestly as possible - and seek different opinions on each to check others agree with me - one of the first things I remember being taught at Le Cordon Bleu was that as humans we are visual creatures, consuming with our eyes before our mouths.  Over the course of my career, firstly as a personal chef and then more recently in the media, I’ve been fortunate to work with some outstanding food stylists and photographers. I’ve always been astonished at how creatively they can present dishes. When it comes to photographing tea there’s a fine line tread by all online retailers as we try to show our teas in their best light without too heavily stylising and misrepresenting them. I really hope an honest representation of our teas is something we’ve managed to achieve with our new naturally light images. By photographing them this way the white tea remains white without being artificial. The same with our green teas and oolongs, we feel we’ve captured their natural beauty, and that now they look as good as they taste. James

To celebrate the arrival of the 2012 spring harvest of teas we decided to update all of our images on the driftwood tea website. 

Tea essentially is a product to be consumed however, selling it online there are obviously some limitations to trying it before purchase. Every tea I select for driftwood I have done so because I believe it tastes fantastic. While I try to describe them as honestly as possible - and seek different opinions on each to check others agree with me - one of the first things I remember being taught at Le Cordon Bleu was that as humans we are visual creatures, consuming with our eyes before our mouths. 

Over the course of my career, firstly as a personal chef and then more recently in the media, I’ve been fortunate to work with some outstanding food stylists and photographers. I’ve always been astonished at how creatively they can present dishes.

When it comes to photographing tea there’s a fine line tread by all online retailers as we try to show our teas in their best light without too heavily stylising and misrepresenting them. I really hope an honest representation of our teas is something we’ve managed to achieve with our new naturally light images. By photographing them this way the white tea remains white without being artificial. The same with our green teas and oolongs, we feel we’ve captured their natural beauty, and that now they look as good as they taste.

James

A First Flush of White Tea

It’s always with a certain degree of trepidation that I try teas that are perhaps more traditionally from another region or country however, over the past couple of years certainly, the range of white tea coming out of India has been particularly notable. 

Around this time of year I will taste more teas than at any other point and, while the romantic notion would have me travelling around seeking out individual farms the reality for myself, and most other small-medium tea retailers is that many of these teas will be sent to me directly from farmers, friends, past colleagues and other tea aficionados I’ve met over the past decade or so. 

Romantic ideals aside, I am confident that each of the teas driftwood stocks are among the highest quality and best tasting examples of that particular tea available. If I can’t source a tea that doesn’t taste fantastic, we won’t simply stock one to plug a gap. 

I’ve heard a lot about the Organic Silver Needle White Tea from the Doke Estate in Bihar and so it was among the first I tried from a new batch of samples that arrived from India today.

This tea had a lot to live up to. Our White Tea is our biggest selling and so far we have chosen only to focus only on Chinese and Taiwanese teas. I was thankfully not to be disapointed.

The silver needles are shorter and finer than Chinese examples but these buds have clearly been expertly hand harvested and retain a uniform size. The aroma of fresh white tea is simply etherial and this did not disapoint. Once brewed these leaves produced a fresh and soft, fruity liquor with teasing hints of cream and a lingering aftertaste. This is a very special white tea, of extremely sound quality, and certainly one I would like us to stock in the next couple of weeks. 

James

Silver needle white teas are among the finest examples of all white tea. Its long downy buds are soft and tender and will brew up a similarly delicately tasting drink that is both relaxing yet refreshing to consume. Cooling in the summer, and warming in the winter, the silver needle truly is a great all year rounder however, like most young teas, it is best consumed within a year of its harvest.  I paid great care and attention when searching out a silver needle for driftwood. Our silver needle white tea comes from a fairly small organic farm in China’s Fujian Province - the farm is not USDA certified (it costs a lot of money for a small farmer to do this) so we don’t actually advertise it as organic - however its quality was obvious and it quickly became our best selling tea of 2011. Speaking to my friend in China today they said that the 2012 harvest looks as though it will produce an excellent yield of white tea (and, unlike other teas, real silver needle is only produced during the first harvest of the year) so we hope to have some of this new harvest in stock sometime in May! James

Silver needle white teas are among the finest examples of all white tea. Its long downy buds are soft and tender and will brew up a similarly delicately tasting drink that is both relaxing yet refreshing to consume. Cooling in the summer, and warming in the winter, the silver needle truly is a great all year rounder however, like most young teas, it is best consumed within a year of its harvest. 

I paid great care and attention when searching out a silver needle for driftwood. Our silver needle white tea comes from a fairly small organic farm in China’s Fujian Province - the farm is not USDA certified (it costs a lot of money for a small farmer to do this) so we don’t actually advertise it as organic - however its quality was obvious and it quickly became our best selling tea of 2011.

Speaking to my friend in China today they said that the 2012 harvest looks as though it will produce an excellent yield of white tea (and, unlike other teas, real silver needle is only produced during the first harvest of the year) so we hope to have some of this new harvest in stock sometime in May!

James

Another picture of my favourite loose leaf tea caddies. I would also highly recommend seeking out a copy of the coffee table book set The Time Of Tea by Dominique T Pasqualani, bottom left of the photo, a perfect tea gift for anyone who likes reading about the history of tea.

Another picture of my favourite loose leaf tea caddies. I would also highly recommend seeking out a copy of the coffee table book set The Time Of Tea by Dominique T Pasqualani, bottom left of the photo, a perfect tea gift for anyone who likes reading about the history of tea.