Local company “over the moon” about Tea-V appearance

Tuesday 26 January 2021

A local company, founded by four friends passionate about Jersey, has received scores of orders after its organic teas were featured on national television.

The Jersey Tea Company’s loose leaf teas were picked by Tea Consultant Angela Pryce to feature in Sunday’s ‘Love your weekend with Alan Titchmarsh’ show.

The company was founded in 2017 by Katherine and Terry Boucher, and Cardin and Michelle Pasturel, whose passion about Jersey, its landscape and preserving green land for future generations led them to explore the possibility of organically growing tea.

The Jersey Tea Company sells handcrafted whole leaf tea that has been grown and processed in Jersey.

The four friends were pleased when Ms Pryce got in touch and asked about featuring their teas on the ITV show.

“She had heard great things about our teas and she was really interested,” Katherine said. 

“We were over the moon, any kind of national press is great.  

“The guest and Alan really enjoyed our teas, they said they were delicious. Angela made it clear that it is handpicked and processed by hand, it’s an artisanal traditional method of making teas."

She continued: “It was great to see our products there, Genuine Jersey products.

“Loose teas are kind of a speciality, a lot of people are used to tea bags. The show was good for promoting all tea business, to get people thinking there is a whole range of other teas out there. 

“Ours is a Jersey tea and people have said you can taste the unique marine aspect to the tea. It was really positive just to spread the word.”

Receiving the validation from people from the industry was a “really proud moment” for Katherine. The company, she said, has also been overwhelmed by the local community response to their products being featured on the show. 

“Whilst it was on, our emails were pinging and (Monday) was a really busy day of sending parcels all over the UK,” she said. 

“The orders kept coming in, so we are really pleased about that. We also have a few more followers on social media.

“We had a lot of local people send us direct messages to say, ‘Well done, it’s great for Jersey.' It’s been a really lovely and busy day.”

As a result of the pandemic, Katherine explained that high-end restaurants, which are one of the main outlets for the Jersey Tea Company, have been more cautious about buying new stock. Online orders are therefore vital to the business.

Luckily, while some big orders have not come through as expected, more and more people have been supporting local businesses.  

“We did have the potential of very big orders in the UK, we had been in contact with several Michelin-starred hotels, but that was all put on pause, that was a kind of a kick in the stomach,” Katherine explained.

“I was quite anxious in the beginning, but it worked out ok. The support of buying local has really helped, if there is any positive to a pandemic, I think it’s that. 

“People are recognising the need to support local businesses and knowing where things are coming from and not relying on abroad, that is really positive.

“Our tea is organic, it’s pesticide and herbicide-free. People are becoming more health-conscious about what they are drinking. When you put our tea in a cup it’s just that and nothing else in the cup.

“We have been held back by the hospitality industry being shut, but we have had other positives that have made us kind of really pleased.”

Pictured: More people are now using social media to order from businesses.

Social media has also helped a lot in the past year, with more and more people using the networks to get in touch with a business. 

“People now are used to go on social media and order whatever they want,” Katherine said. 

“They have been trying new things and ordering more things to their door.

“It’s definitely worth putting the work into social media. There are four of us who run the company and none of us are experts in social media, we put our heart and soul into it and I think people can see that on social media when you are genuine with what you are doing.”