Si's Hip Hop Tea Shop

I know I know, no album review this week, no tea review this week, standards are slipping right? Well at least I have a good excuse for once. Yesterday Si’s Hip Hop Tea Shop was officially open for business! It’s been a crazy week sorting everything out but god DAMN it felt good to finally get live and sell some tea. For those of you who didn’t have the dubious honour of following my live tweets of the day (apologies for the incessant R Kelly lyrics), I’ll give you all a brief overview.

You want tea? I got tea…

I arrived at the market, bleary eyed, around 8:30. After taking a moment to bemoan the earlyness of my rising I reminded myself that 8:30 is the time most people are awake, the first steps into being a real person begin here! After setting up I was greeted by an equally bleary eyed friend on his way to work, he bought some tea off me though. Barely open an hour and already made my first sale? Good times. The day carried on in an orderly fashion, I chatted, networked and generally punted my wares, what really suprised me was the level of passion that some people have for tea. Now I know there are serious tea heads out there, chatting to people on Teatrade has been an eye opener but they’re all people I know from the Internet, people I’ve met through a shared love of tea. In my real life I know very few people who are as in to tea as I am and it was amazing to have a few of Brighton’s tea fans come down and chat. What flush was my Darjeeling? (it’s a blend) How long was my Pu-Erh aged for? (I’m not sure but it smells young) all questions that, in all honesty, I was not expecting to hear from the general public. It warms my heart to see that there are people who live in my town who share my passion. The Devotea’s tea blends caused a bit of a stir, one particular tea fan declared the Jim’s Caravan it to be “just like his mother used to drink”, an easy sale there.My biggest suprise was at the end of the day. I fully expected to have sold mostly the standards, Earl Grey, English Breakfast etc. but what should be my top seller? My Sencha with Passionfruit Guava and Mango, with Lapsang Souchong a close second! I couldn’t have predicted it, seems Brighton’s taste for tea is more sophisticated than I thought!

I won’t let this run on too long, I’ll finish by saying thanks to all of those who came down and talked tea with me, even more if you actually bought some. Thanks to everyone who helped me get to this point and I look forward to seeing you there sometime. I’ll be there every Wednesday, just look for the beardy man with a cuppa and you’ll have found me….