Monday 17 October 2011

RELEASE OF GIFTY PACKS 2011!

Hi There Chappies.

Just a Quick'un as it's late, and we've just eaten loads of apple and blackberry crumble, and it's made us sleepy.

I hereby announce the release of The Black Tea Gift Pack and the Orthodox Tea Gift Pack! -






And, once again, our Christmas Gift Pack is alive n kicking -





It was a furious weekend of packing, and we thank all the helpers that helped, and all the others who were just there being entertaining.


We are very happy with our selections, and are proud to be able to offer them to you.

We hope you enjoy them, and can feel the love that we have put into each and every bloody sticky label (we did over 1500 of them).


GOOD NIGHT WORLD (unless you are in Australia and are just waking up).

Friday 14 October 2011

OCTOBER 2011 IT IS. EH?

This weekend we will be packing our NEW GIFT SETS!

We will be having 3 gift boxes this winter season. An Orthodox gift set containing a gorgeous Yunnan green tea, a fabulous Fujian white tea and an incredible Ceylon black tea. Also we will have our Black Tea set with the intoxicating kick of Quilliam Brothers Breakfast Blend, the citrusy delights of our Organic Darjeeling Earl Grey and the aromatic smooth maltiness of our Assam Dikom black tea. And, as it is, unfortunately, the season again, the Christmas Gift Pack will be back with a vengeance, containing three festive favourites.

As usual you will get a FREE infuser with the pack and a nice sample to try of sumfink else.

Check 'em all out from Monday the 17th at The Quilliam Brothers Webshop.

Things are moving nicely with the building for the Tea House. We actually have a bit of paper with official words on to sign n that. Which is almost a champagne moment. Almost, but not quite. Tum te tum.



BLOG BLOG BLOG BLOG BLOG

Today i am talking about companies, corporations and chains.

SOUNDS A BIT SERIOUS?!! Bear with me; it isn't.

This topic will be addressed anecdotally. Though there will be not much in the way of comprehensible flow, there is one word that unites it all - 'EXPRESS'.

I start with the tale of a musical trip to the Burh of Eidyn, some 5 months ago...

'Twas nearing summer darkness, the moon light began to glow.
Through the gentle drizzle, our hungry Pimptones did go.
In search of grub, though nothing too dear,
as with the current economic crisis you kind of have to watch the pennies you see. " 'Ere,
look yonder, look over there.
A 'Pizza EXPRESS' sign doth shine, doth glare."
"But look!" I retorted "Just next door, it's a
Private run gaff, called 'Paradise Pizza'"

Grumbling, mumbling, humbly they agreed,
to support the underdog in our quest for a feed.
So in to Paradise we five did trot,
selected our table, chose our spots.
Menu perused, drinks decided,
we ordered our food with smiles and politeness.

So i sat.

In silence.

Feverish with excite.

Primed and ready to sate my appetite.



-Unfortunately, turns out Paradise is shite.


And it really was awful. We should've baulked at the sight of the peeling wallpaper, naff naff interior design, tacky laminated menus. But with the blindness brought on by my hatred of chains, i brushed all these little issues off as 'quirks'. Unfortunately, the food can't be forgiven for being quirky. It can only be nice or not nice. And it was not nice. And it cost the same as, if not more than, going to Pizza EXPRESS.

The owner, who had the obligatory 'Italian restaurant owner' image complete with FUNNY FOREIGN ACCENT, must've only been there to make the experience just that little bit more authentic, as he certainly wasn't there to maintain the high standards of his restaurant. And the waitresses were well aware of the crap establishment in which they worked, as they couldn't give a gnats doodle about anything. The pizzas were the worst i have ever eaten. Worse than Morrisons value ham and pineapple pizza, which is saying something. Grease and Salt were the 2 overpowering flavours.

Anyway, i was saddened by the whole fiasco. Because necks were stuck out and promptly guillotined and because places like that are ruining the small chance that small businesses have against chainy giants in city centres.

One of our party said - "They are successful chains for a reason." And it broke my heart. Because it's true. 10 points on offer if you know what the reason is.


ANECDOTE 2

Coffee.

We were waiting for a bus. Me and a person. In view of the bus station was an established coffee vendor. Starbucks was his name-o. I nominated myself to go on a coffee run. And run i did. I ran to find somewhere that wasn't Starbucks. Coffee XPRESS was his name-o. lesson learnt, I thought 'This looks nice. Not too scruffy. A touch of the tokyo modern about it. People inside, drinking. Which can only be a good thing'. And in i popped.

I was greeted by a lovely lady, who sounded possibly New Zealandy. She said "I'm sorry, i can only do take away". That was fine, i only wanted take away. The man after me didn't want only takeaway, so off he trotted, f-ing and blinding. I ordered a latte for me and an americano for the person. And paid the same i would've paid in the 'Bucks.

Heroically i returned to the person. And gave the coffee to her (yes, it was a her!). And i put my 24 sugars in mine, and started drinking. It was ok, though VERY weak. Her's, however, was vile. And she couldn't finish it. The woman in the coffee shop had made it by running water through the group head and the coffee until it was a full cup, then heated it by putting the steamer through it for a few seconds. That is WRONG. So either she couldn't be arsed to do it properly, or didn't know how to do it properly. Either way, it is unforgivable for a cafe with 'Coffee' in the title to not know how to serve coffee.

Here, again, my faith in private enterprises has made me look SILLY.

ANECDOTE 3

Buses.

Once upon a time, i was on a bus to London from Newcastle, on my way to catch a flight. 5 hours into the 7 hour slog, i realised i didn't have my passport. A useful item. So, i thought n thought, and realised the only way i could get it to London in time would be to put it on a bus or a train. So i called National EXPRESS and asked if they could bring it down. They said NO. I told my brother that they had said YES, and he wonderfully convinced the bus driver that National EXPRESS had said YES also. I met the bus driver in London with an 8 pack of nice beers, and everyone was happy. Though the bus driver was a bit jobs worthy and did try and milk it somewhat, by saying that it was his neck on the line, and that it would've been his job had he been caught, et ladeda, at least he did it.
Alas, I missed my flight anyway and had to get there via other means, but that's neither here nor there.

SAME BUS COMPANY, but forward 2 years. I was queuing, having failed to print off my e ticket. The bus driver was looking at everyones printed e ticket, not scanning or writing anything. So i showed him my e ticket on my laptop screen. And he said i wasn't allowed on. Anger flowed through my veins, and out of my mouth. WHATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU NOT MARKING A BIT OF PAPER, AND NOT MARKING A COMPUTER SCREEN? Well, it's company policy. And it needs to be paper to show that it's authentic, and so we can mark it so it can't be used again. IDIOT. (you can print 10 copies of your ticket if you want.)

Anyway, eventually i was allowed on, but i am sure he drove more angrily to try and make me hit my head on the window.


SAME BUS COMPANY, but forward 2 more years, to me and the person sitting in the bus stop considering coffee purchases. I needed to charge my phone, for emergency reasons. There were no sockets in the waiting room. The lovely person i was with went to ask the lady behind the desk if she could charge my phone. She said that she could.
Whilst sitting with our disgusting coffees some minutes later, 2 girls asked if the woman had let us charge our phone behind the counter. We said yes, but it's for an emergency. They then proceeded to slag off National EXPRESS, as NE had refused to charge the girls' phones. (they were playing games on their phones)

UNFORTUNATELY...
those two obnoxious girls are mistaking the person for the company. But who can blame them? The vast majority of the people that work for large companies do everything they can to hide behind the company, use it as a safety net whenever they have to make commonsensical decisions. There's no room for personality in large companies. The brand is the personality. And no employee should show otherwise. Because of this, whenever someone DOES do something against company policy, they then run the risk of being criticised, and they no longer have anything to hide behind. What the wonderful phone charger woman and the excellent passport bus driver did is the daring human thing, and fucked the company policy in favour of common sense. And for that I LOVE THEM. I got the phone charger woman a chocolate bar and told National Express that she was excellent.


A PLEA..

If you find anyone who is truly excellent in a company, someone who is a person not a drone, someone who WANTS to help you, not just helps you because they are told to, someone who has gone beyond the call of duty because they enjoy seeing a problem resolved, or enjoys receiving a thank you, OR if you eat at a fabulous restaurant, go to a wonderful little shop, find a cosy cafe that serves amazing stuff then SHOUT ABOUT IT. TELL EVERYONE. TELL THE PERSON IN QUESTION THAT THEY'RE MINT AND SHOULD KEEP AT IT. TWEETLE ABOUT IT. FACEBOOKEN IT. DO EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER TO MAKE THEM KNOWN AND APPRECIATED.

Keep trying out the private operations, even if you cant say goodbye to the big chains altogether. Chains are soul-less, devious, manipulative and are turning our lovely city centres into clone towns. You get assured quality of goods and quality of service, that is true. And sometimes that is nice. It's safe. But i pity anyone who is happy with safe.

THE QUILLIAM BROTHERS TEA HOUSE (EXPRESS) WILL NOT BE SAFE. But in a good way. Not in a hard hat wearing/lawsuity way.

LONG, BUT THE WORDS KEPT COMING.

xxxx