Ready to tantalise your taste buds? We’ve got the ideal flavour for Autumn, Hot Choffee tisane, which we’d love to tell you more about. But firstly, we are delighted to announce that this premium blend has been awarded a Great Taste star!
What Are The Great Taste Awards?
Organised by the Guild of Fine Foods, the Great Taste Awards champions the UK’s independent food and drink producers. Across the country are passionate people committed to experimenting with flavours, aromas and textures to bring you the very best of British. However, due to small batch production, few are found on the supermarket shelves. You have to hunt out these hidden gems at artisan markets, farm shops and specialist retailers.
Every year, thousands of independent producers submit their products to a panel of over 500 expert Great Taste judges. After extensive tasting, the judges select standout varieties of every kind of food and beverage. These are awarded one, two or three stars. The stars can be printed on product packaging to help customers identify supreme flavours.
Previously, our Chic Lady Grey tea had been awarded a Great Taste star, but this year it was the turn of Hot Choffee.
Our Great Taste Hot Choffee
We launched Hot Choffee in Autumn 2024, and it was a big hit! Firstly, there is no tea, coffee, sugar or caffeine in this tisane, yet many tasters struggle to believe this. That’s because our bespoke blend of cocoa nibs, cocoa shell, dandelion root, cornflower and chilli offers deep, rich and warming notes which hit the spot.
We received feedback from the judges and were delighted with how they described Hot Choffee.
“The coffee coloured liquor exudes gentle cocoa notes on the palate, and the bitter notes of chicory pull through the chocolate, giving the latter its mocha-like flavour.”
“Initial sweetness gives way to a tweak of chilli which builds gently on the finish.”
“The dandelion root is well balanced and adds a gentle edge to the sweetness.”
These reflect the flavour profile that I was working to achieve when working on this blend, and it means a lot to receive these comments.
If this has piqued your curiosity and you’d like to taste this tea, come and visit our stall at one of the local artisan markets. We’d love to hear your feedback! Alternatively, you can buy Hot Choffee online.
Other Local Great Taste Award Winners
While we celebrated our success, we also took note of a few other local producers that were recognised with Great Taste stars this year.
Fellow businesses in and around the Aylesbury area that also featured on the list include:
Chiltern Brewery (Terrick) for both Beechwood Best Bitter & Three Hundreds Dark Old Ale
Buckmoorend Farm (Butlers Cross) for their Welsh Dragon Sausages
Lovely Bit of Crumpet Ltd (Long Crendon) for The Original Crumpet
Next On Your Table (Tring) for their Oak Smoked Chilli Pepper Jam
The Real Drinks Co (Waddesdon) for Real BRUT, Real Dry, Real Noir and Real Sec!
Drovers Hill Farm (Princes Risborough) for Orchard Hare Apple Juice
Potash Farm Foods (Tring) for Free Range Cockerel
We also spotted producers from the towns where we attend artisan food markets, including Marlow, Henley and Amersham.
Well done to you all. We’re now keen to try your goodies!
For a full list, visit the Directory of 2025 Great Taste Award winners.
Celebration of Local Producers
As a final nod to the delicious delicacies being made on our doorstep, I’d like to mention two partnerships that we forged over the summer.
Firstly, Agosti Gelato, who used our infused Holy Cow loose leaf tea to create a Masala Chai Gelato. What a creamy, flavoursome delight! Secondly, we offered afternoon tea experiences in the garden room this summer. Freshly baked scones were served with scrumptious jam or curd provided by Crafted by P, who is known at Winslow Farmer’s market as The Jam Lady.
We look forward to future collaborations!
