Emilie Holmes - Good & Proper Tea: How to make, drink and cook with tea

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Good & Proper was established as a business in 2012, but the story began many years earlier. As a non-coffee drinker I was increasingly frustrated by the contrast between the quality and care given to what coffee aficionados were drinking and the disappointing cup I was almost always faced with when ordering tea. I was no tea expert at the time, but I was always surprised to find that taste and consistency were lacking, and presentation was almost universally poor. Having talked for years to no effect about the need to change the way people thought about, made and drank tea, I finally decided to do something about it myself.

Having made the decision in principle, the next step was to take the leap. Armed with little more than instinct and good intentions, I sat at the kitchen table with a basic to do list and, before I realized it, I was off. Responses from suppliers started to come in, neat little packages from Japan, China, India, Rwanda and everywhere in between began to arrive by post and, much to the dismay of my flatmates at the time, a lengthy tea-tasting process got underway. Before long, my idea to create a destination for tea-drinkers began to take tangible shape and momentum started to build. I knew I wouldnt be able to open a tea bar from the outset so, having seen a growing streetfood movement in London, I decided to find and convert a 1974 Citron-H van into a mobile tea bar. Although this represented a lower cost of entry than a permanent retail site, it still meant raising funds funds that I didnt have. In a somewhat serendipitous moment, I saw on Twitter that Kickstarter, the US-based crowdfunding platform, was to launch in the UK. Despite confused reactions I had from friends and family when trying to explain the concept of rewards-based crowdfunding, I decided I had nothing to lose, and hastily pulled together a project to go live the day Kickstarter launched. We were, it turned out, the very first project to go live on the UK site and, amazingly, we were soon also among the first to be funded. I couldnt have imagined a more extraordinary response for the next few days my phone buzzed non-stop with emails alerting me to new backers supporting my project. People from all over the world were not only pledging 10 or more to help make it happen, but many were also offering help with fitting out the van, sharing contacts and suggesting places to trade once we were up and running. It seemed I wasnt the only person to be frustrated by a lack of love given to tea, so my backers soon became all-important first ambassadors for what I had set out to do. After a nail-biting five days, I had 372 backers pledging to bring my proposal to life. The van was bought, transformed and equipped and given the name Watson by a vote among the backers, to fit its Holmesian owner. (The names of each of our backers are still proudly displayed on the back window.)

The first cup of Good & Proper tea was brewed at a market in Shoreditch on a freezing cold day in December 2012. From our first van pitch outside Londons Kings Cross Station, as part of streetfood community KERB, our itinerant journey took us to festivals and events throughout the country, to pop-ups in Londons tokyobike store and Old Street Underground station. In 2015, after turning to the crowd once more, this time with Crowdcube, we opened our first fixed premises a year-long, tiny but perfectly formed kiosk in Shoreditch. Now, in 2019, thanks to the invaluable help of our customers, friends, partners and suppliers, we have grown to a flagship tea bar in the heart of the capital, an online store and a fast-growing wholesale business while Watson the van lives on, too.

We have one focus at Good & Proper, which is, of course, the tea. The teas we source are single-origin, meaning that each comes from one geographical region, estate or garden. In their unblended and unflavoured form, the flavour profile of each of those teas is therefore a direct reflection of the soil, the climate, the altitude and aspect of that region the terroir, as it is known in wine as well as the particular skill that goes into producing it.

We are not the producers of these teas each is the tireless work of teams in growing regions around the world, who work with nature to bring out the best possible flavour in their crops each year. They craft the teas, while our role is simply to find them to explore the possibilities and then make choices on our customers behalf. We hope to bring them some of the best, always ensuring that the integrity and flavour of the leaves are maintained all the way to the cup.

Over the years, we have curated a collection of black, oolong, green and white teas, as well as a range of herbals, each of which brings something different to the table. We look for whole leaf, that are representative of their type, their region and their style and then try to find the best possible example for our customers. We are lucky enough to receive regular samples from producers the world over, the leaf and liquor of which are reviewed and tasted at our warehouse in southeast London, each being assessed for quality and flavour. Sometimes, were simply tasting a new harvest, other times, were trying something new. And we never stop tasting, so our collection will keep growing

In setting up Good & Proper Tea, I wanted to show everyone how good tea can be, when things are done right, or properly. But many years on, this ethos has come to encompass much more than just the tea. It means taking time to get things right, not only in sourcing and brewing the teas, but when serving a customer, dealing with a supplier or simply packing a box for an online order. More often than not that means it takes a bit longer, but it also means nothing is left to chance. And we hope it will lend an honesty and authenticity to the way we do business. It is this approach, I believe, that has earned us the trust of our customers over the years, and it will be even more important as we grow the business that this good and proper way of doing things remains at its heart.