Looking on-line to buy Ceylon tea, I found a lovely website which turned out to be a fascinating story of the enterprise of some young second generation British Cypriots….
Time for Tea….with Some Good Food
A couple of hundred years ago, if you’d been able to take a balloon flight following the River Thames westwards from the City of London, your over-riding view would have been that of green fields, farms and every now and then a village. Today, the whole area, apart from a few public parks, is a patchwork of man’s construction, seemingly one great sprawling city. But many of the villages are still well defined and some would be easily recognisable to yesteryear’s balloonist. Their names – like Hampstead, Wimbledon, Highgate, Pimlico, now denote “suburbs”, but for a number of reasons, like community spirit, the increasing difficulties and cost of transport, people are increasingly looking local for goods, services and entertainment.
Barnes is a village with a South-West London Post Code. A place name recognised by many only because of its annual, fleeting fame of the Oxford – Cambridge Universities Boat Race, when for a couple of minutes on global TV the two rowing Eights are seen battling up-river past Barnes and under Barnes Bridge.
To a smaller audience Barnes village means jazz. As put on for many years at the legendary Pub venue the “Bull’s Head”. A festival each year and regular “gigs” by local and foreign musicians, of all ages, backgrounds and styles, ensure a steady flow of aficionados. It is possible that the clearly prosperous citizens of Barnes, many of whom would be commuting the ten miles or so to the City of London each day to advance their causes, would want no additional fame or the possibilities of greater tourist inflow than this.
Our balloonist would have seen a leafy, tree dotted, well proportioned village, with its large “pond” and river-front lined by elegant residences, with the shops a short walk away – he still could. Today, if he had a penchant for the good things of life, he could let down his balloon and take afternoon tea, of a quality quite rare these days.
At first sight, ORANGE PEKOE fits Barnes perfectly. On a sunny day – yes, they do have them in England – what better to sit outside this pleasing place and enjoy a pot of leaf tea of choice (yours or the management’s recommendation). But a colder day may take one indoors, to enjoy the style and ambience of this beautifully appointed establishment. And there, as you enjoy a warm, home-made scone with clotted Cornish cream and strawberry jam you may consider that this quintessentially English place must be run by two well-heeled young women called Arabella and Caroline.
Not quite. The founder of the Orange Pekoe in 2006 is 37-year old Marianna Hadjigeorgiou. As you may expect from the name she is a full-blooded Cypriot.
“I always loved tea and been passionate about it”, she says. “I loved having tea at mum’s when I was growing up; it was served in a big pot with cinnamon bark, lovely crockery and there was always a nice freshly baked cake or Greek pudding to go with it. Guests would come; we would sit and chat and feel all warm and cosy”.
In student days, taking a catering degree and later working in the City as a business woman she tired of not being able to find real tea (she includes no teabags in her definition) and a comforting and comfortable ambience in which it was served. “I used to get very frustrated that I couldn’t go anywhere and re-create this old feeling. It was either the Ritz or Costa coffee but nothing in between.” That’s when the seed of the idea that became Orange Pekoe was sown.
Marianna married Achilleas Agridiotis in October 2008, and the union has been blessed by the arrival of Elias Raphael Agridiotis in January last year. “He’s possibly the best thing that’s ever happened to me” purrs Marianna, “I’m so in love with him. We speak to him in Greek and English. We think it’s very important that he learns both languages”.
At the start-up of Orange Pekoe Marianna put herself entirely on the line. “It was my concept”, she says, but it is also a truly family affair. Success has drawn in her husband, mother-in-law and brother. “Achilleas heads up the kitchen and is responsible for all food purchasing/cooking. I head up front of house – all recruitment /retention/marketing/operations management side of the business. My brother Savakis Hadjigeorgiou, who has a strong marketing background, has just come into the business to help us grow it and take it to a new level. This year we plan to launch another shop and an e-commerce website where people can shop on line”.
“My mother-in-law, Lenia, helps my husband bake cakes and also makes some of our soups”.
I asked Marianna how she developed her passion for tea and the family knowledge of it into a specialist outlet purveying a skilled selection of the world’s best. “I spent two years prior to opening Orange Pekoe researching and learning as much as I possibly could about tea. Jane Pettigrew, the leading tea author and guru in the world is my fairy godmother. She has taught me all I know and introduced me to some of the most influential tea people. She still carries out all our staff training and is now one of my dearest friends. She is such a lovely, kind lady. I am responsible for all tea tasting/buying/stocking. We have a few suppliers who blend for us”.
A tea-shop, of course, has to provide more than just tea, no matter how good that is. The eclectic customer-base of “Yummy-Mummies” of Barnes, business men and women, pensioners and tourists from places like Japan, America and China, would neither linger long nor spend much money just on a pot of tea. So there has to be food… and in a posh place like Barnes, it has to be good food. If you are going to serve a Cornish Cream Tea, then every day your Scones have to be fresh and perfect, and your Victoria Sandwich cakes must be top of the class. Achilleas, his Mum and their team, backed up by produce from artisanal bakers and other small carefully chosen suppliers, rise to this task daily, starting with a breakfast, then lunch, to afternoon tea.
I find it remarkable that these two fervent Cypriots, Marianna and Achilleas, who speak with pride of their families’ Diaspora, post-1974, of their parents’ move to UK and their ensuing struggle to make a place for themselves, and of their family still on the island, can contrive to be so utterly English in their tea-shop. Granted, their catering culture includes family fish-and-chip shops and Wimpy Hamburgers, rather than kebab houses, but even so, I am filled with admiration at what they are doing.
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IN ORANGE PEKOE’S OWN WORDS
We have a simple formula; at Orange Pekoe we love tea and everything about it.
Orange Pekoe’s philosophy is to offer customers loose leaf teas in their purest form. We travel far and wide to find the finest handpicked tea leaves in the world. We only use the finest loose leaf tea, never tea bags – nor do we import tea unless we know exactly which tea garden it comes from.
There is always a trained tea sommelier on hand who can help and advise with tea choice. We encourage customers to come and look at the handsome tea caddies at the front of our retail area. Open the caddies and smell the unique teas and admire their beautiful leaves!
Retail
The tea bar at the front sells over 90 loose leaf teas. If you are looking for a tea related gift all the teas are sold in handsome tea caddies. You can buy them in either mini sample caddies which are a great way to ‘explore’ the range of teas, which start at £4.50 per caddie, or there is a larger caddie for those who already know what they like. These start at £8.50.
Orange Pekoe has launched a giftware range for Christmas with a lovely gift boxes for the tea caddies and their very own tea book! There is also a unique collection of stylish tea accessories and teapots.
Soon, customers will be able to shop online.
Tea Time
Afternoon Tea at Orange Pekoe is an informal affair. There is no fuss, no dress code, no minimum spend, so if you’re looking for something stuffy we’re afraid you’ve come to the wrong place!
If you want to join us for tea in your shorts then that’s fine, however, if you fancy putting on your prettiest dress and a pair of heels then we love that too! Anything goes.
We serve all our teas by the tea pot for £3.60, even the more exotic and exclusive teas. We are so passionate about our teas we believe in giving everyone the opportunity to taste them. Retail prices do however vary so please speak to a member of the Pekoe team for the retail prices of our teas.
Inside the tearoom there is a marble counter that rotates its food display depending on the time of day. In the morning this is full with delicious fresh pastries, at lunch time freshly homemade sandwiches, salads and pies and for afternoon tea a range of mouth watering homemade cakes and scones.
Cream Tea is set at £7.50 per head and includes the following:
* Two large warm scones (1 plain and 1 sultana), served with Cornish clotted cream and strawberry preserve.
* A pot of tea or coffee of your choice (we offer over 90 loose leaf herbs and loose leaf teas).
Afternoon Tea is set at £16.95 per head and includes the following:
* One large warm scone (either plain or sultana), served with Cornish clotted cream and strawberry preserve
* A selection on freshly prepared finger sandwiches
* A freshly baked cake of your choice from the cake display
* A pot of tea or coffee of your choice (we offer over 90 loose leaf herbs and loose leaf teas)
* Upgrade to Champagne afternoon tea for an extra £7.50 per person.
Booking for afternoon tea is essential (especially at weekends). To make a booking please call Orange Pekoe Tea Rooms direct on: 020 8876 6070. Afternoon Tea bookings are taken from 2pm onwards.
PLEASE NOTE – We only take bookings for afternoon tea, we do not take bookings for breakfast, lunch or cream tea.
A few facts on our most popular teas:
* Our Breakfast Tea is a blend of Assam teas and offers you a powerful, malty cup. This tea is great any time of day if you like a malty and strong cup of tea.
* Our Afternoon Tea is lighter than our breakfast blend, with larger leaf size. It has been blended with the finest flowery Darjeeling leaves and aromatic Ceylon. This tea is a refreshing cup, perfect at 5 O’clock!
* All our Assam, Darjeeling and Ceylon teas are single estate, this means they are from one tea garden only and have not been blended with other tea. They are also orthodox teas; this means the leaves have been handpicked from the tea plants to bring you the best possible quality. They are then tasted every harvest by our tea tasters before we bring them directly to you.
* Our Chai Tea is a blend of black tea, rooibos, green tea, cinnamon, ginger, orange peels, liquorice root, cardamom, cloves, pink and black pepper and flavour. A warming, traditional Chai that can be made with hot milk or hot water. It has a spicy bouquet; this tea has become one of our best sellers and we use it to make our famous ‘Chai Lattes’.
* Our Jasmine flowering Tea really is a visual delight. This is a flowering green tea and looks sensational in one of our glass teapots, served to your guests. Premium green tea which has been exposed to Jasmine during the drying process is then hand rolled into beautiful balls with a decorative flower in the middle. Depending on the season, the flower in the middle will either be a lily, Jasmine, Marigold or globe amaranth. Ask our staff what flower is currently in season. As the tea is immersed in water watch the ball unfurl to a beautiful flower. The flower will produce 3 – 4 pots of tea, depending on how strong you like it.
Contact details and opening hours:
Orange Pekoe, 3 White Hart Lane, Barnes, London SW13 0PX Tel: 020 8876 6070 Email: info@orangepekoeteas.com Website: www.orangepekoeteas.com
Opening Hours: Monday – Friday 7.30am – 5.30pm. Saturday & Sunday 9am – 5.30pm
