It’s a big month here for us at Chai Wallah Margate, this month we’re 5 years old! When I think about how much the business has changed and grown beyond what I ever could have imagined I am eternally humbled by everyone’s love and support.
It all started after I travelled for a year and experienced a whole range of teas and combinations that were drunk – from the classic masala chai in India, flowering teas in China, cold jasmine tea in Cambodia to yerba mate in Paraguay!
I returned to the UK determined to continue and broaden my tea drinking experience and longed for that masala chai flavour but with my go to green tea as a base and I just couldn’t find one, so I made my own. I started playing around with different spice combinations and made different blends depending on my taste and mood. 5 years and 60+ blends later I have an established little tea business.
When I did my first farmer’s market, I’ll admit, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and how much work they really were. I’d never been in a position of direct selling to anyone before, and it’s absolutely not the same as behind a counter in a café, I learned that pretty quickly! In the first 2 years I did every farmers/craft market I could get on to and got my teas out there for people to try.
The world of tea has changed incredibly over the past 5 years from my observation, people are more aware of tea outside of the standard “proper tea” and since lockdowns and covid I’ve definitely noticed people drinking more herbal teas as their lives were forced to slow down, we stayed at home more and have more time to indulge in an everyday luxury such as loose leaf tea. And now I’ve sent tea all over the world – all over Europe, the US and Canada and even to Thailand! It warms my heart to think of so many people having my tea in their kitchens and being part of their tea drinking experience.
A friend of mine said to me recently that he had someone round for tea and they said “you have Chai Wallah Margate tea, I have that too. I love it” And I cannot tell you how much joy that brought to me. Sometimes it’s easy to forget after you serve someone at a market, or a parcel goes in the post, that that tea actually ends up in someone’s kitchen and enters their lives and becomes a part of their everyday routine (or is saved for a weekend treat or special occasion). That is such a privilege and honour to be able to bring you a moment of calm, or help fuel your day, or to be a part of your mediation routine. Whenever you drink tea or for whatever reason, I’m so happy to be there with you. The love, care and passion that goes into every order; from the blending to the careful label placement and stamping of each bag and the handwriting of every address a bit of my heart and soul is carried along and enters into your life to bring you peace, joy and happiness. So, from my heart to yours, I give you the gift of the little mediation poem below.
Namaste.
The first sip moistens my throat,
The second cup breaks my loneliness,
The third cup searches my barren entrail,
The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration,
The fifth cup purifies me,
The sixth cup calls me to the realms of the immortals,
The seventh cup – ah, but I can take no more.
Lu Tong