STYLE | Food


MEE T T H E MA K E R


Larry Burgess Island Leaf and Wight Label Teas


By Amy Shephard Pictures Timi Eross


From the fami ly business that brought you Island Roasted and Caffe Isola, comes exciting new venture, Island Leaf and Wight Label Teas. Style of Wight caught up with founder, Larry Burgess, to find out more


“I started out on this around three or four years ago, initially by trying to learn more and educate myself on both the world of tea in regards to taste and flavours (which is endless!) as well as the real world practicalities of the tea industry from a business perspective, and to be honest that journey is ongoing as there is always something new to learn and discover.


“I felt that while both the general public and our wholesale customers really got why quality coffee mattered, tea was always an after-thought and almost always a poor experience compared to the speciality coffee scene which has now really become mainstream. I really wanted to bring our tea offering up to the same standards as our Island Roasted


48 styleofwight.co.uk


coffee, for both our wholesale and retail customers, as well as be able to provide real tea knowledge and education.


“The tea industry operates very differently to the speciality coffee industry. Particularly in the UK, we are still very much dominated by the big multi-nationals, who across the top four control 75% of the UK market. Most of these own numerous and very large tea estates themselves, so they also control a significant amount of production, giving them a lot of power within the markets.


“I am approaching it along two paths: Loose leaf teas and leaf teas in pyramid tea bags - with the loose leaf under ‘Island Leaf Teas’ and the pyramid bags under ‘Wight Label Tea’.


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