Bristol business to sell tea in Harvey Nichols

A business run out of a one-room office near St Nicholas Market has signed up with Harvey Nichols to sell tea in its stores.

The link between Lahloo and Harvey Nichols starts this week in Bristol at the opening of the luxury store's dedicated food shop in Quaker's Friars.

Lahloo founder Kate Gover said the partnership was "a dream come true". When the food shop opens on Wednesday, Lahloo will have a tea boutique inside, with a tea sommelier talking shoppers through what blends might suit them best.

Mrs Gover, 32, from Clifton, founded the company from her kitchen table in 2005. It is named after the 19th century tea clipper her great-great grandfather sailed.

"For one order from Harvey Nics, we are getting through the same amount of stock that we would normally go through in a month," said Mrs Gover. "It's absolutely fantastic for us, but it's a lot of hard work."

Mrs Gover buys her teas from mostly family-run farms in China, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

Lahloo is already stocked at London department store Liberty's, and closer to home it can be bought in Arch House Deli, the Clifton Lido and Bordeaux Quay.

At the Harvey Nics food shop, Lahloo will have a "pop-up tea boutique", with the tea sommelier standing next to a bespoke wooden unit in Lahloo's traditional colourful stripes; while in the new year the tea will be stocked in Harvey Nics across the country.

Mrs Gover, who used to manage the former Fresh and Wild store on Queen's Road, said that her knowledge of tea continues to grow.

She said: "People like to label me as a tea specialist, a tea connoisseur, even the tea lady. I believe there's still so much to learn. I'm still tasting and explaining about tea every day. I will taste a new flavour in a tea every single time I make it."