Feeding You The Good Stuff

Autumn inspired tea flavours and teabag shapes is a thing and it is a popular but until recently undiscovered concept.

I can’t believe how quickly the weather has changed and we are back to the rain and cold already.

It seems just yesterday I was melting under a fan in a 38 degree heat wishing for some rain and cool breeze and here is the autumn already. Although, a little colder than planned but perfect for a warm cup of tea.

I decided to try out the new autumn collection by Tea Heritage. First selling point – they are organic and use glue free tea bags. Second, the autumn inspired flavours are tempting. Not to mention their adorable and unique shape of tea bags and tea tags.

First in my sampling session was The Vert Jasmin shaped like a squirrel with a sparkly pinecone as a tea tag. It was light and refreshing, with slightly sweet natural jasmine tone.

I have tried many flavoured green teas and I always appreciate more natural flavour, which was the case with this one. It is perfect as a morning or afternoon revitalising drink.

For the evening I tried a properly autumn and winter themed Pumpkin Chai. It came shaped in a maple leaf teabag with a sparkly pumpkin tea tag. Normally I’m not a fan of chai, I just find it a bit too spice rich especially if it contains ginger. This one was spiced generously. Although I liked the pumpkin undertone it was not quite for me.

However, the design was great. Tea Heritage does both loose and tea bags of the same flavours. The tea essence is not attached to a teabag design, which gives freedom to choose your desired shape and serving, making it a great gift.

The custom made and theme inspired teabags was exactly how the Tea Heritage was born. In 2013 Elodie Fagot was searching for some heart shaped tea bags to prepare a special Valentine’s Day breakfast.

She found that customised and bespoke tea bags didn’t exist anywhere for sale soshe decided to make her own. After carefully creating an array of beautiful teabags, Elodie posted about them on Instagram and was soon inundated with messages asking where people could buy them.

Elodie, from Lyons in France, was heavily influenced by her grandmothers when starting Tea Heritage. One taught her the art of sewing, and the other the tradition of English afternoon tea. Elodie combined these two passions and soon started selling her beautiful hand-sewn tea bags.

Tea Heritage’s products are all designed by Elodie Fagot and are created by hand in the company’s workshop in Lyons by a team of 30 people. Each craftsperson is trained intensively for a month to master the art of hand sewing the intricate designs.

Many of the team members have been with Tea Heritage for seven or eight years and some of the team that hand stitch the tea bags are blind or partially sighted. These talented members of the team live nearby in Lyons and are part of an active recruitment drive by founder Elodie to employ a diverse team and give back to the local community.

Tea Heritage responsibly sources its ingredients worldwide, including green tea from China and Japan, black tea from India and Sri Lanka, South African rooibos and herbal teas from France. Only organic ingredients are used in all of products. 

The tea bags are all made with food-grade gauze free from glue and sewn with organic cotton, making them compostable, if the tag is removed before recycling in the food waste. The organic cotton thread is also chemical free, which means it won’t bleed the chemicals in contact with hot water.

This autumn Tea Heritage produced four autumn inspired designs, which means I still had two to sample – The Noir Earl Grey in fox shaped teabag and tag and mushroom shaped teabag filled with The Noir English Breakfast.

The English breakfast was malty, rich and fruity with a golden colour to it. While the black Early Grey had a lovely bergamot aroma to it. Like The Vert Jasmine, the Earl Grey had natural flavouring of citrus to it. If you drink bergamot infused teas you’ll know what I am referring to. Some Earl Grey teas just taste too synthetic with their artificial bergamot flavourings.

The final tea contestant was loose organic Rooibos Cinnamon Roll. I was surprised when I opened the pack. I was expecting the usual little rooibos golden red straws with some cinnamon.

This pack had so much variety inside such as pieces of cinnamon sticks, rooibos, green leaves, little yellow rough balls of something and my favourite cute little ginger men. The tea itself smelled like a ginger bread bakery shop somewhere in Germany.

With its slight dessert sense, it was great as an after dinner drink . Although, since rooibos is caffeine free it’ll also make a perfect before bedtime drink, especially with the warming cinnamon.

Tea Heritage season inspired teabags and flavours are certainly a very cute (that’s the most appropriate adjective in this context) and unique concept. They both look and taste superior with plenty variety to suit all tastes. They’ll make a very caring present but probably less suited for every day consumption especially if the person is a heavy tea drinker due to a price tag.

Tea Heritage’s range is available for sale in the UK at Harvey Nichols, Anthropologie and on the brand’s website, www.teaheritage.fr/en Prices start from £6.30 for a box of five teabags in one design. 

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