In 2020 we started a new monthly making workshop: Making herbal teas with plants grown at the Company Drinks Garden by Grow Club and local families. We sit back and enjoy a cup of tea (made and bagged at the workshop) in good company, while talking about horticulture, herbal remedies, the benefits of growing our own herbs..... With the current lockdown keeping us all home, we've started a Tea Club, sending Make-Your-Own herbal tea bags, using ingredients from the Company Drinks Garden, inviting you to take 10 minutes out of your day to think about how you feel, to enjoy a healing cuppa and to learn something new about herbs and flowers.
We always start and finish our activities with a check in and a warm, healing cuppa… So with the current lockdown keeping us all home, we’ve launched Tea Club. We’re sending Make-Your-Own herbal tea bags, using ingredients from the Company Drinks Garden. We’re inviting Company Drinks group members to take 10 minutes out of their day to think about how they feel, to enjoy a healing cuppa and to learn something new about herbs and flowers. Thanks to B & D Renew for their support in funding this new project.
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Tea Club Week 4: A very special final Tea Club collaboration
Image: The final Tea Club blend is made up of predominantly cacao husks and chocolate mint. We also loved the pop of colour from the orange calendula and purple mallow
Since lockdown happened and we closed our public events and workshops overnight, we have been working to find new ways of delivering our programme remotely and at a safe distance. Thanks to support from B&DRenew, one such way was to run a Tea Club over 8 weeks, which saw nearly 100 tea tasting packs being sent out to our members, with information about the herbal blends and a guided wellness activity each week.
For our final Tea Club pack, we are excited to have collaborated with Oyin Okusanya, the founder of Cocoa Social Enterprise CIC. Oyin delivered an educational workshop on chocolate making as part of our Family Wild+Well programme last year, and is a member of our Local Food Steering Group. We were thrilled to have had the chance to make a tea blend together, using herbs grown in the Company Drinks garden and cacao husks and nibs from Oyin’s chocolate production.
If you’d like to hear more about Oyin’s work then have a look at the Cocoa Social Enterprise CIC website and blog. Here you’ll also find an online shop, with delicious, locally made, hand crafted chocolate goods.
Thanks to B & D Renew for their support in funding this exciting project.
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Tea Club Week 3: Immune boosting & anxiety soothing
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Feedback highlights:
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“Had the chance to drink my tea today…perfect for the weather…lovely smells…very different from other tea bags as it smells fresh and strong…I like this very much…it has a soft and floral taste…this is also nice”
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“It’s very calming, spiritually it’s very calming, it made me concentrate and focus on something postive”
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“Had a good opportunity to try my tea…especially in this weather…unlike the other tea sent…this one is still light in colour after 5 minutes…tastes light too…didn’t add any sugar but it has a sweetness to it that I like…and did you notice I drank it as a loose tea without the bag?…I truly enjoyed this, thank you.”.
“Really appreciate all you are doing. The tea through the post made my day”
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“The teas are very good. Thanks for looking after me. I felt relaxed.”
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Tea Club Week 2: An Update on What’s Brewing 12.05.20
This week we sent volunteers a delicious blend of Raspberry leaf, blackberry leaf, hawthorn blossom. These plants have properties which are good for the heart and immune system as they have plenty of Vitamin B+C.
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The raspberry leaf was harvested at Grow Club. We pick the young leaves for tea, and will leave the berries for the birds. These raspberry canes were donated by one of our Thursday Group volunteers last summer, and they are now thriving at The Pavilion. Thanks Beryl!
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Week 1 Update 04.05.20
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We designed and printed postcards, consulting with our community gardeners and on an instructions card, for an easy-to-follow guided meditation, to practice while teas are brewed.
The herb garden was maintained in preparation for a harvest, and once the herbs were picked, we dehydrated them.
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On 24th April, 25 tea packs were sent to volunteers who signed up to take part in the project.
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Each tea pack contained a Tea Club postcard for filling in, an instructions slip for making the tea, (including step-by- step instructions for a mindful meditation to last the duration of the 10 minute brewing time), and materials and herbs for making 2 x tea bags.
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Week 1 Tea: Lavender, Passion flower, Chamomile, Lemon verbena
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Tea Information: “Helping to lift the spirits and alleviate anxiety” and “Soothing the digestive system and aiding sleep”
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Feedback highlights:
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“Really appreciate all you are doing. The tea through the post made my day”
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“Gosh! What a happy memory. Lavender was my mother’s favourite scent!”
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