Talking Tea with Henry Booth

Written on November 12th, 2015

We all love a good brew, and at Booths we’re especially proud of our tea and its great Northern roots – read our interview with Henry Booth below and you’ll see why. If you’d like to see how Henry likes to spend his family Christmas pick up a copy of our Christmas book in store for the full interview.

Henry Booth is the son of Graham Booth, the company’s director of properties, and joined the family business as a graduate in 2012. He trained as a tea taster and blender and then worked as a tea and coffee buyer, which has certainly made him passionate about tea!

E.H. Booth & Co. Ltd was founded in June 1847 when 19-year-old tea dealer Edwin Henry Booth – Henry’s great-great-great grandfather – opened a shop called The China House in Blackpool, where he sold the quality teas and coffees he travelled to find. The network of Booths stores across the North West all sprang from that original tea shop, founded almost 170 years ago.

Tea is a core part of the business today, we still blend and pack our loose leaf tea and roast our coffee in-house. That’s a link with the past which is really important to me.

The blends are made to specifications handed down through generations and the tea samples were weighed using a sixpence as this was closest to a Rupee used in original tastings in India.

We used to run an old advertisement saying that our tea is “blended by experts in Lancashire to suit Lancashire people,” says Henry. “That holds just as true today. We create our blends to suit the water of the North West, which is very high quality, soft, with low minerality and acidity.

So what’s the secret to the perfect brew?

Freshness is a priority. The tea needs to be good quality and have been properly looked after. And loose leaf is always superior to a tea bag. A cup of tea is mostly water, so if you don’t have lovely Lake District water, it’s important to use a filter or bottled water. After that, the taste is down to how it’s prepared: ideally, with freshly-boiled water poured into a warm tea pot, with a spoon of tea for each person and one for the pot. Most of the tea we blend is designed to be drunk with milk.

I think a really good cup of tea is a crucial part of everyday life. You’d struggle to find a purer pleasure than standing outside on a crisp winter’s morning with a hot cup of tea in your hand. It’s the perfect way to start Christmas morning.

If you’d like to try some of our teas for yourself, why not pop in your local store, or treat yourself or a loved one this Christmas to a gift box?