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Metrodeco is entering this year’s awards in the ‘Best Cafe’ section.

There are loads of great entrants – but if you’ve ever been to Metrodeco and you think we deserve to win, we be very touched if you’d vote for us.

You can do that here (it only takes about 45 seconds!).

Many, many thanks

Helen and Maggie

Owners, Metrodeco

Why we love rooibos tea

So you love your wake-me-up breakfast tea in the morning – and maybe you’ve  tried a spot of green tea, full of anti oxidants for a healthy boost to your immune system.

You may have even given a herbal tea  (or ‘infusions’ as they’re known in the trade) a go. Chamomile blends are just the ticket to wind down for bed and a mint brew is a great choice for an after dinner digestif.

But, like many, you may have always thought ‘rooibos’ (or red bush tea) is just too odd. In fact the description I found on Wikipedia would even put me off for life if I wasn’t already a massive fan.

It describes rooibos  as “a broom-like member of the legume family of plants growing in South African fynbos (shrubland found in the Western Cape)”

But please don’t be put off, you won’t be slurping lentils with your Victoria sponge but a golden brew that is slightly sweet and nutty and just a little bit malty.

It is also great as a bed-time drink as it contains no caffeine. Add to this the health benefits – natural antihistamine and anti-inflammatory properties – and this ruby-coloured drink with its aromatic aftertaste is definitely worth a try.

Which is why we have added two new rooibos teas to our increasingly popular Salome Kick.

Terracotta Sunburst, with vanilla and rhubarb

The first is our Terracotta Sunburst (left), a new rooibos, vanilla and rhubarb tea, which was named by one of our customers.

Our second new blend is a charity tea that will support the Topsy Foundation, which provides relief services to individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa.

For every pouch of Topsy Tea bought (£4.80), we’re giving £1.50 to the charity. We’re also donating 20p for every £2.40 pot purchased in the tea rooms.

Topsy Tea (below) is combination of rooibos and Earl Grey.

Topsy Tea, our charity rooibos

So, if you fancy a change or are already a committed rooibis drinker then come in and try our range. You won’t be disappointed. Better still, if you visit Metrodeco, mention that you’ve read this blog and you will get a free sample of each.

Doggy Royal Wedding

They are likely to be dogged by impersonaters for decades to come.

But Kate Middleton and Prince William could not have expected to be impersonated by dogs – until we hosted our Canine Royal Wedding.

The stars of the show, red setter ‘Kate Puggleton’ and ‘Prince Woofiam’, a Portuguese Estrala, dressed as the soon-to-be-married royals as they tied the knot in a mock ceremony.

As well as giving a humorous nod to the real Royal Wedding, we hope the stunt will help highlight the cruelty of puppy farming as well as raising over £200 for Be Puppy Farm Aware. 

Maggie Morgan, co-owner of Metrodeco, which holds regular doggy tea parties and has a special dog menu, said: “You might think we’re barking mad but we wanted a novel way to celebrate the Royal Wedding at the same time as highlighting a real animal cruelty issue.”

Celebrity vet Marc Abraham, who donated a signed copy of his new autobiography Vet on Call to be raffled at the event, said: “This was a fantastic way to bring a horrific practice into the public eye. Puppies bred by puppy farms are usually kept in horrible, dark conditions, totally unsocialised and riddled with both infectious and inbred often incurable diseases.”

Look who won a year’s supply of Metrodeco tea…

Terracotta Sunburst, our new rooibos with vanilla and rhubarb

So finally, the results are in!

We asked you to come up with a fitting name for our new loose leaf tea and the suggestions have been flooding in for the last week. Slurping on the new rooibos blend, we debated which entry best befitted both the tea and the 1930s art deco ambience at Metrodeco.

We even ordered the cuppa from our staff, trying out each name in turn, to see which one rolled most exquisitely off the tongue, making it a joy to say as well as to drink.

So after much mental torture and agonising deliberation, we have come to a decision.

The name we have chosen for our new rooibis, vanilla and rhubarb tea is…Terracotta Sunburst.

We felt that it really does embrace the essence of the tea while encapsulating a reference to a true Art Deco shape (‘sunburst’) used in many mirrors of the period.

So congratulations to Mike Lank for coming up with such a great name and thank you to all the other entrants.

Mike wins a free Afternoon Tea for Two (worth £28), a pouch of Terracotta Sunburst and – best of all, we think – a free pot of that blend any time he visits Metrodeco for the next year. And to show our appreciation to everyone who entered the competition, we would like to give you all a cup of the tea you nearly named. So please come in and enjoy a pot of Terracotta Sunburst on the house when you’ve got a moment to enjoy a tea that tastes – and sounds – exquisite.

And if you want to buy any of our 20 gourmet blends and single leaf teas online (they make great gifts!), visit our online tea shop.

Free tea for a year! And the winner is….

Okay the judges are retiring to consider your suggestions for the name of our new vanilla and rhubarb rooibos tea.

As we explained here, the winner will get a free Afternoon Tea for two (worth £28), a gourmet pouch of tea emblazoned with the winning name (worth about £5) and a free pot of that blend whenever they visit Metrodeco in the next year.

There were so many excellent entries, our panel of experts has asked for an extra 24 hours to deliberate.

Don’t be frightened to try and sway their decision in the comments section below!

So – in no particular order – here are the choices:

Help tea shop name new blend and win free tea for a year

How would you like a free Afternoon Tea for two (worth £28) at Brighton’s 1930s tea salon, Metrodeco?

And how about a free gourmet pouch of our newest blend to take home with you afterwards?

In fact – what the heck! – how about a free pot of that blend every time you come to the tea rooms FOR A YEAR?

Sound good? Well read on – and you could have all three.

Why I love tea (and my visit to an Indian plantation)

Metrodeco's Helen Wilkinson gets her hands on some green tea

I suppose it goes without saying that I really like tea.

Of course I do, I co-own a tea rooms.

But I guess you probably don’t quite appreciate just how much I love the nation’s favourite drink.

It’s not just the taste.

I adore the light perfume of some leaves and the dense, woody aroma of others. I love the flirtatious, glitzy pinks and lip-stick reds of our infusions and sunset ambers of our breakfast teas as you pour them into gleaming white China cups. I love the feeling of slap-your-face freshness after a slurp of mint tea and the sweet, spicy warmth of a nice masala chai.

Helen takes in the sights of Pushkar, India

There’s a blend or leaf for almost every occasion and mood.

So when my partner suggested India as a holiday destination, which is, of course, a major grower of tea, I had to go and see how this wonderful, healthy drink makes its way from a plantation into our cups. (There’s a link to a short film of the trip at the end of this blog).

I already knew a bit about the process – from reading books and websites and talking to Metrodeco’s Master Blender, Alex Probyn, who would have a black belt in tea if it were a martial art.

But it was an enriching experience to stroll in a plantation in the shadow of the Himalayas with the sun on my back. It was equally fascinating to visit a co-operative factory, where we chatted to the growers, tasters, packers and quality control experts.

Anyway, without further ado: here’s a short film of our trip (which had an especially happy ending because my partner, Michael, proposed and we’re getting married in autumn).

Helen, co-owner, Metrodeco

Why Habitat sucks

UPDATE: Habitat’s manager, Matt, just came to Metrodeco in person to apologise and to explain that he’d been having a bad day. He also offered us a permanent trade discount of 20% in recognition that we are regular customers. Matt and Habitat deserve full credit for listening and for being big enough to admit they got it wrong. Matt was very nice and went to great personal lengths to put things right and we respect him for being a really decent human being, not ‘rude’ and ‘inconsiderate’ as we said below.

Looks like Habitat is fostering a culture of listening and people like Matt are at the forefront of this. Well done and sincere thanks to both.

Helen

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I’ve just spoken to the rudest, most inconsiderate human being in Brighton’s retail sector.

Anyone who knows Metrodeco will know that we are usually only praise-worthy of other businesses – so this blog might give you an idea of how annoyed we are.

Anyway, having visited Habitat, I arrived home to find that the shop assistant had forgotten to put four cups into the bag he had been filling for me as he wrapped my purchases.

We’d been chatting pleasantly and there was a lot of wrapping to be done so he was probably distracted. Easy mistake to make and I certainly wasn’t going to hold it against him.  Besides, all I’d have to do was call the store and ask for the items to be sent to my home.

Foursquare swarm party: the movie

I just know you’re going to enjoy this….we’ve enlisted Robert De Niro, Meg Ryan, Robert Duval, Clarke Gable and others to help us promote this week’s Foursquare Swarm Party at Metrodeco in Brighton.

Foursquare Swarm (August 12): some exciting updates – and a clarification

We’ve had some tweets from people saying the swarm badge already been unlocked in the UK. Yes, we know! But what we are saying is that we don’t think there has ever been a successful dedicated swarm badge party in the UK, where the sole purpose was to unlock the badge.

The badge has only ever been unlocked where there have been people already gathered – like football matches, festivals and conferences. We’ve checked with Foursquare – but please tell us if we’re wrong. So we think it would be special to be the first successful swarm badge party.

And now the updates

1. Apart from a free glass of bubbly, you will also get a free sing at Brighton’s home of Karaoke, Lucky Voice, if you check in when we attempt the swarm. Details at the Lucky Voice blog.
2. Foursquare have promised us the network will be working during our attempt so there shouldn’t be any technical problems.
3. The current invitation suggests a hashtag #BrightonFoursquare4sqflashmob but this seems too long (hat tip @aral). Someone else kindly built the invitation for us – so we can’t change it. But can we please use the shorter hashtag #ukswarm instead?

Finally, this will only work if you invite people to come along to Metrodeco, 38 Upper St James’s Street, Brighton, from 7-8pm on Thursday August 12. So please tell all your friends online and offline.

See you next week!

Helen,

Metrodeco