I’m not a tea person. Or at least I wasn’t until a recent visit to one of Bristol’s newest stores.
We were invited to the opening party for Bluebird Tea Co which recently arrived in Bristol with its third store after opening shops in Brighton and Tunbridge Wells.
Bluebird is so much more than a shop though; it’s an experience. Founders Mike Turner and Krisi Smith have crafted more than 70 teas and sell them alongside all sorts of tea-related paraphernalia, most of which you’ll struggle to find elsewhere.
We arrived fashionably late to the opening parTEA (get it? PAR. TEA. I’ll get my coat…) and were warmly welcomed with an enthusiastic description of the experiences that awaited us.
In an evening packed with delights we sampled gingerbread chai (and bought a jar!), sipped on amazing tea cocktails and made an exciting discovery, particularly for me, the non-tea drinker.
Matcha is a true superhero of the food and drink world. It has 10 times the benefits of green tea and three times the energy kick of an espresso. We sampled the matcha and Nina, the massive tea drinker in the family, was (unsurprisingly) instantly won over. Even our little one was impressed. Me though, the hardcore coffee drinker, was always going to be the hardest to convince but Bluebird did it. I was sold and we instantly snapped up the matcha making kit!
But that wasn’t where the goodies ended. Bluebird had collaborated with two of our other favourite brands on Bristol’s independent business filled Park Street; coffee shop Pinkmans and Italian ice cream parlour Swoon. Both didn’t disappoint. The yummy tea infused gelato and roasted vegetable canapés went down very well!
We could have stayed there all night but the time unfortunately came to leave. We departed laden with treats and one new convert to the world of tea from the coffee darkside. Welcome to Bristol Bluebird!
