Wilkinsons-USA

If you have never witnessed the Chinese tea ceremony of GongFu, be prepared for a true Zen experience. This ancient tea ceremony is a wonderful way to extract the best tea you can from the best tea leaves for the ultimate cup of tea. The GongFu ceremony typically involves Oolong tea (such as our Wuyi Rock Organic Oolong), steeped in purple clay Yixing teapots. Yixing pots eventually take on the flavor of tea that is steeped in them, and it is said that after many tea infusions one can simply add water to an Yixing pot and enjoy a tasty cup! I currently have only two of the Yixing tea sets at the Emporium, but am on the lookout for the right supplier so we can increase our offerings in the near future.

Enjoy the GongFu video, and please try to ignore the ultimate insult to any tea ceremony being the cell phones ringing in the background!  GongFu Tea Ceremony

Being a web admin means you hear a lot of strange stories out on the net. In many cases I sit back and snort “Giles, that’s a troll pulling your leg!” But occasionally something comes up that makes you wonder if its real or not. Let me explain.

The other day I heard that another tea company was having a hard time getting hold of some teas due to a UN sanction being leveled at China. Well UN sanctions against a major world power tend to make it to our news services fairly quickly, so I was surprised that I hadn’t heard about this sooner. Frankly it sounded like an industry myth spouted off to excuse that firms inability to supply a tea!

Still, I dug around the internet and after a couple of tries I did find some reference to it, but all the references I found came back to a single article.  Now it seems some of the medium graded china teas had tested positive for some pesticides recently made illegal by international health watchdogs. This could be scary indeed, but actually supported my original thought. The tea our competition was making excuses about was a high grown high quality one not a medium or low grade as mentioned in the internet article. They had just run out and were making excuses!

Fortunately we at Wilkinson’s have only supplied some of the best most rigorously screened teas available. You can buy from us with confidence, but be wary of the cut price deals you might see in your local general store. Instead try out some of our high grade China tea or perhaps certified organic teas.

The Chinese, who have been the tea experts for over a thousand years, would not sabotage their pride and joy with over use of pesticides. I can however believe their cheaper stuff they make for national use or sell to the mass producers might be a bit less good, as its grown for bulk and speed not necessarily quality. In a statement the Chinese authorities pointed out that they were allowed to have their own pesticide laws after all, and are making efforts to ensure all their exports up to international standards. This I can believe a lot more readily than what looks like an internet rumor.

I’m going to go have a cup of Green tea now and toast the careful growers of this healthiest of drinks. Cheers!

Pumpkin Spice Frappé

This week, I’m thankful for pumpkins! Wilkinson’s Tea & Coffee Emporium is excited that Pensacola News Journal’s November issue of Home & Garden magazine featured some of the Emporium’s drinks for their fall edition. Get your seasonal Triple Crown with one (or all) of the holiday’s three seasonal drinks…Pumpkin Spice Coffee latté, Pumpkin Spice tea, or a frozen Pumpkin Spice frappé. See the article for other seasonal goodies in Pensacola, including Pumpkin Spice Olive Oil from Pensacola’s Bodacious Olive store. Give thanks, and enjoy your holidays!
Fall Flavors – PNJ Home & Garden Article

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Wilkinson's of Norwich coffees are now on grocery store shelves! Southern Family Markets (aka Piggly Wiggly) are now carrying our Brewton Brew, Wilkinson's House Blend, and Costa Rica Tarrazu coffees. We are currently stocked in both the Brewton, Alabama and Atmore, Alabama locations, and hope to expand into more as word gets out about our attention to fresh coffees.

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