Pair brew up a new tea venture (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Pair brew up a new tea venture

3:07pm Tuesday 29th May 2012 in Business By Helen Perkins, Reporter

A CUMBRIAN business duo are hoping to brew up success with an online tea business.

Robert Hadfield, of Windermere, and Phil Morrison, of Grange, have joined forces to bring three organic teas from a south west Chinese province to the UK.

They have launched teacargo.co.uk to bring handpicked Oolong, Puergh and Green tea from the Yunnan Province.

Their website offers health tips and descriptions of the benefits of different types of tea.

Mr Hadfield and Mr Morrison said they were drawn to the Far Eastern culture, but for very different reasons.

Mr Hadfield is a descendent of Hunters the Teamen, who once owned the Northern Rock premises at Stricklandgate, Kendal. He said his family’s business left him with an interest in the tea industry.

Phil Morrison met a Chinese occupational therapist from Yunnan Province. After visiting the region, he formed a partnership with the local tea factory, which commissions residents to hand pick leaves from wild tea trees.

Mr Morrison said: “This tea is unique. It’s picked in a small area of the hills which are looked after by local farms.

“It’s too much of a niche product to go to the supermarket, so we’re offering it to individuals who want a particular type of tea.

“I used to drink English tea but now I like a cup of this in the morning and I can’t drink black tea now.”