Artisan tea company Eteaket has teamed up with food and drink scientists at Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University to produce a new functional tea.
The new blend draws on sea buckthorn, which grows wild along Scotland’s coastline and contains an array of unique vitamins, minerals and bio-active substances that are not found in standard tea, the researchers said.
Sea buckthorn has been used widely as a healthy ingredient in juices and jams, but this is the first time that sea buckthorn berries have been used to make tea. The berries have been combined with dried cranberries and mellow hibiscus flowers for a “punchy” tea.
Eteaket’s Erica Moore said: “We’re constantly looking to innovate with our tea, always searching for the latest weird and wonderful ingredient, flavour combinations and brewing techniques.”
In its search for a distinctive new ingredient for its tea, the brand joined QMU’s sea buckthorn common interest group – a partnership of nine companies set up in 2014 to enable its members to become more informed about the nutritional properties of Scottish sea buckthorn.
Moore continued: “We felt that sea buckthorn is greatly overlooked in terms of its health benefits, nutritional properties and unique flavour. Working alongside the QMU and the group, we hope that the distinctive Scottish sea buckthorn can flourish here in Scotland.”
And Queen Margaret University business development manager Miriam Smith added: “We’re very proud to have supported Eteaket in getting this unique sea buckthorn variety of tea to market.
“By working with businesses like Eteaket, QMU’s Scottish Centre for Food Development and Innovation is enhancing Scotland’s position as a leader in food and drink innovation in Europe and supporting access to the global market for healthy and functional food.”
The university’s food and drink experts have also helped Eteaket expand its range of speciality teas for the UK and overseas market by providing customers with more detailed nutritional information about caffeine and antioxidant levels.
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