iv: Our Man in the Field On a pleasant spring morning, I’m heading to a rendezvous with Erica Moore; eminent tea enthusiast, founder and proprietor of eteaket— the foremost destination for all things tea in Scotland. I really couldn’t wish for a better teabreak buddy. Since 2008, she’s been sharing her passion for the power of proper leaf Tea, and through it she hopes to empower others to make connections, create moments of joy, and make every day better. And so, positioned in a prime spot on the promenade at Portobello, with the sun shining and pedestrians milling,
David Hughes meets Erica Moore clear views and the barest suggestion of a Marianne Hughes, with illustration by breeze, we get into it. Me (English Breakfast Tea with milk), and Erica (a necessary midmorning childcare coffee) diving headlong into the brave, somewhat stressful and mildly perilous tale of her personal Tea origin-story. It begins with a trip to Japan, made some years previously, with the intention of immersing herself in a completely different culture: I remember landing in Tokyo at Noriko airport. I'd booked this little ryoken (where you go and stay in someone's house) though it turned out to be nowhere near Tokyo. I had no idea, and had packed the biggest rucksack— it was bigger than me! Rush hour in Tokyo— an absolute nightmare! I actually fell over because my bag was so big! People were stepping over me. Eventually, I made it to my train— heading for the right place —and off I went. But it just kept going and going— out of the city and into the country, past rice fields and farms. The station names which had previously had English translations now only had Kanji. ‘Oh my god’, I thought, ‘what am I going to do?’ I had thirty seconds to try and look for some sort of clue before the doors open and closed. Thankfully, a kind lady noticed I was struggling and made sure I got off at the right stop. What stuck with me from that journey was the kindness
shown to me by complete strangers,
Hazel Brady who took me under their wing till I eventually found this place. Obviously, I enquire if she was immediately given Tea on arrival: Oh, yes. Shoes off, the full tatami room with an entire ceremony. It was incredible. That was it, I was hooked from then. Prior to meeting Erica— in an attempt to avoid coming across as some sort of Tea philistine — I’d spent my week cramming all about Tea. The more I learned about Tea, its origins and the various types, the more of it I drank. The more of it I drank, the more it occurred to me that every major event in my life has probably been preceded or closely followed by a cup of Tea. In my family at least, making Tea is an almost automatic response to the delivery of any news. Beyond this, though, this subject is incredibly broad, its history fascinating and detailed. There’s truly a wall of information on this, for those who seek such things. As Erica says: There are just so many details to geek out on. Pluck leaves from a plant over separate weeks and they’ll be totally different, and what you can get from the same leaves depending on how it's processed is fascinating. It's so similar to wine in that respect— and, funnily, we find a lot of our male customers gravitate toward the Gaba Oolongs, White Needles, or Chilli Rooibos for that extra kudos, or knowledge bragging rights.
