Clipper is a trailblazing Dorset-based tea brand. Helen Stiles discovers what goes into their award-winning Fairtrade cuppas
If I could throw a tea party for the great and good, past and present, Catherine of Braganza (1638 – 1705) would be high on my guest list. This Portuguese princess married King Charles II in 1662, and made tea drinking popular among the aristocracy and, later, the mercantile classes in England.
By the 1680s tea was the temperance drink of choice at court amongst her ladies and a sign of wealth if served when paying a social call. Over time the price of tea fell, and by the early 1800s it was cheaper than beer and had become the nation’s favourite drink. Now it is ingrained into British culture, and we are renowned the world over as a nation of tea drinkers.
So it is with great pride that I can share with you that one of the most renowned tea brands, celebrating its 40th anniversary this month, is based right here in Dorset. Clipper was started in 1984 by a tea-obsessed husband and wife, Mike and Lorraine Brehme, in their Beaminster kitchen. Its name comes from the 19th century sailing vessels, tea clippers, that raced wooden chests of tea leaves from India, Africa and China to England. The founders wanted to combine their love of great tea with a promise of ethical sourcing and natural production. The story began with just two chests of finest-quality Assam tea, sold to local health food shops and cafes. Today there are over 150 different Clipper products sold in over 50 countries. It's even the official tea of Glastonbury Festival.
In 1994 Clipper became the UK’s first Fairtrade tea company, and in 2018 they launched the world’s first unbleached, non-GM, plastic-free teabag. Winner of multiple awards for their great tasting cuppas, Clipper is a household name across Europe, the USA and the UK, and they are very proud to be flying the flag for Dorset, as their anniversary tea caddy proudly declares.
When I was asked if I would like to come to their HQ in Beaminster and watch how they make their tea blends, followed by a spot of tea tasting, this tea lover said, ‘I don’t mind if I do.’
My guide was Daniel Parr, European R&D Team Leader for Hot Drinks for Ecotone UK, which now owns Clipper. Dan is born and bred in Bridport. He had heard from one of his teammates at a local football club that Clipper was a great place to work, and the firm was going places. Dan started on the factory floor with a summer job in 1999 along with his friend James Ikin, who is now Clipper’s tea buyer.
Mike, one of Clipper’s founders, suggested that Dan train in the quality control team. Some 20 years later, it is Dan’s finely honed tastebuds that ensure that your Clipper cuppa tastes as good as it can be. All their tea is brought direct from the tea estates they work with. In some cases, these partnerships have been in place for decades. All adhere to the Fairtrade conventions – these support worker’s rights and ensure farmers are paid a fair wage. Clipper pays a Fairtrade premium price for their tea which is then invested at source into education, health and housing. And most of their teas are organic. Only a small number of tea estates across the world meet these standards.
A sample of the tea is taste tested by Dan and his team before it is shipped to the Dorset warehouse. The producer sends a 100gram sample which can represent two to five tonnes of tea. If they are happy with the sample, they instruct the producers to ship the tea. This can take up to 12 weeks or more. Malawi, for example, is landlocked so the tea must go across Africa to reach port at Mombasa.
The tea is taste tested again on arrival at Beaminster. ‘We do at least one sample per pallet of stock,’ says Dan. ‘We then grade it and make sure it is the tea we expect it to be. If there is any variation in what we were expecting, the colour or the flavour, then we can shift our grading to reflect that and blend accordingly.’
The buying decision and final blending recipe is decided in the onsite Zen-like tasting room. This is immaculately laid out, with tea tasting equipment on the table. To maintain consistency tea is tasted in the same surroundings, brewed with the same water quality and set method, to judge the tea fairly.
‘The ideal growing conditions for good quality tea are dry weather with regular short showers,’ Dan explains. ‘Moisture is still going into the tea bushes, but they are also under a little stress. Heavy rain is brilliant for volume as the bush will produce more leaves quickly, but the taste becomes plainer as the naturally occurring chemicals in the leaves won’t develop and it’s these that give tea its unique flavour profile. There’s a similar issue if there isn’t enough rain. We have to manage these variables so that we can blend a tea that is of consistent quality and flavour with the taste profile we want all year round. That’s why we are assessing the tea coming into the factory at every stage.’
The tea is blended in a huge drum which rotates to mix the different teas together. All the Clipper blends have a closely guarded recipe. Each batch is tested before they go onto be made into Clipper teabags by a rank of robot machines that bag and box at lightning speed, a process I found mesmerizing.
Back in the cool, calm vibe of the tea tasting room, Dan explained a little about the tea grading system, and how they create their blends. ‘Good quality black tea from Kenya, has a very dense and dark leaf. Tea from another East Africa country nearer the equator will be a bit lighter and browner. You can easily tell the difference between a tea from Malawi or Zimbabwe compared to Kenya or Rwanda. When the leaf is harvested it includes the stems, the veins and the leaf. In the final stage, they roll or cut the dried leaf to take out the fibre (the stems and veins) - this is known as secondary grade and is mainly used in cheaper teas. The primary grade tea, from the leaf, is what we use in our Clipper tea blends.’
Dan then demonstrates how to taste tea like a pro, a noisy process that requires some skill. The freshly brewed black tea is usually poured after six minutes, though this was notched back to a couple of minutes for my uneducated palate. ‘We brew for much longer when we’re tasting because we need to get that dry astringency and dry bite on the side of the tongue, this is a good indicator of quality. It means the tea has a lot of lively character –what we call brisk. That means that when you add milk it’s going to cut through and deliver flavour. If the tea is too mellow when its black, it won’t have a lot to shout about when you add milk.’
Then, using one spoon to decant onto another spoon, we slurp. ‘The idea is to aerate the liquor as much as possible, hence the slurping sound,’ he says, as he expertly demonstrates. ‘This gives you better coverage of your tastebuds. Then try to breathe out of your nose to get the full aroma.’
As Clipper’s master blender, Dan must manage the taste profile of all the Clipper blends as well as dream up new ones. Fortunately, he is passionate about tea and, along with James the tea buyer, has visited many of the tea producers they work with around the world.
‘What we buy is driven not only by the types of tea we need in our blends but also the certification those plantations have - those adhering to Fairtrade conventions and then those which are organic.’ Kenya is the world’s biggest black tea producer, yet there are two or maybe three plantations out of hundreds that tick both Fairtrade and organic boxes. Rwanda is another important supplier of organic tea, as is India.
As we move into September, Dan and his team will be expecting a flurry of deliveries from Assam and Darjeeling. Countries on the equator, such as Kenya and Rwanda, are producing tea all year round, though it may vary in quality and taste according to weather conditions, but Northern India has a season. ‘The tea gardens start growing in March and are harvested in late summer. So, there’s a six- or seven-week window when we are buying their tea, there’s a rush of Assam samples, with the tea arriving from September onwards.’
Before I take my leave, a Clipper commemorative 40th anniversary tea caddy in hand, I take my chance to ask an expert how to make the perfect cup of tea. ‘The key thing is the water you use. If you’re in a hard water area, use filtered water or keep your kettle free from limescale build up, this really helps with bringing out the flavour of the tea. Secondly, always use freshly boiled water, re-boiled water has less oxygen in it which will turn down the flavour and colour of the tea.’ It really is that simple to make a great cup of tea.
‘We are carrying on the ethos of Clipper’s founders,’ says Dan. ‘Four decades later, our focus remains on quality, with the pillars of organic, Fairtrade, ethical and sustainable alongside great taste.’
A Dorset cuppa which, as every Clipper box declares, is natural, fair and delicious. ENDS
Find out more at clipper-teas.com
