Orders boom for Lake District businesses after collaboration on tea-infused beer
Gina Pennington, director of Penningtons Tea and Coffee with Fell Brewery's Imogen Beedham
Orders have reportedly been flooding in after two pioneering women renowned for their artisan beers, coffee and teas joined forces.
Gina Pennington, director of Penningtons Tea and Coffee in Kendal, has collaborated with brewer Imogen Beedham of Fell Brewery to produce a unique sour beer with a twist.
The pair spent time experimenting with different flavours and recipes before coming up with the perfect pint, now christened Cuppa Rosie. The beer, a sour Berliner Weisse, has been brewed with mango and apricot before being infused with one of Penningtons’ special flavoured teas – The Blue Lady.
Pennington said: “Last year the brewery used our House Espresso coffee beans and brewed the most delicious dark beer. And it got me excited about what else we could do together with our local brewery.
“So this time, we went slightly more adventurous and Imogen was absolutely brilliant at coming up with different recipes and suggestions. I learnt some new tricks and it was really interesting to see how the brewing process works.
“It’s great to be able to use our teas and coffees in more innovative ways, and the outcome has so far been fabulous!
“Blue Lady Tea is a wonderfully aromatic, fruity black tea. It’s been blended with Mallow blossom, Cornflower petals, notes of grapefruit and Bergamot oil. I was very excited to play around with this tea and work with another brilliant local business.”
Last year Fell Brewery used Penningtons coffee to produce the hugely popular coffee milk stout, Cask O’Joe, which has since become the brewery’s best selling dark beer. Now the new brew looks set to have a similar level of success. After having just a sip, and even before Cuppa Rosie was finished brewing, local bars including The Factory Tap were quick to put their orders in for the sour beer.
Cuppa Rosie beer is now on sale for £5 (700ml bottle)
Beedham said she was excited to see what everyone else would think of the drink. She added: “Our stout beer flies out every time we make it, so it will be very interesting to see how this one turns out.
“We had been thinking of working together again for a long time and at first we thought of infusing Penningtons tea with our pale ale. However, after tasting the Blue Lady tea, I experimented with the flavours and found that the sour beer would really do the tea justice.
“Together we created something brilliant and it tastes incredible, I can’t wait to share it with our customers. It is a refreshing fruity beer with lovely floral notes. I’ve really enjoyed working on this project, it’s given me some ideas for the future.”
Cuppa Rosie, which is 3.5%, is now available to buy from the brewery in kegs or in bottles as well as at The Tap Factory and Fell Bar in Kendal, The Little Bare in Morecambe, Tweedies Bar & Lodge in Grasmere and Kittchen in Hawkshead.
Penningtons is a family-run business and it recently recorded a 40% increase in demand for its letterbox-friendly coffee and tea packages.
For more information, visit: penningtonscoffee.co.uk/pages/subscriptions.
