Bird & Blend Tea Co. Leeds

Bird & Blend Tea Co. keeps its Leeds shop at 15 Commercial Street, and the company's own page for it is written by the store manager, Becky, who calls it the company's first Yorkshire store and promises a cuppa to anyone who walks in. It opens Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 18:00 and Sunday from 11:00 to 17:00. The staff are called tea mixologists, and the job is to walk you along the wall of 100 loose leaf blends, from Sticky Chai and Strawberry Lemonade to the Great British Cuppa, and to make an iced tea or a tea latte at the counter while you choose.

The catalogue is built on blends rather than single-estate leaf, and the pricing follows one grid. The classic end of the wall, Builder's Breakfast Brew, Assam Earl Grey, Earl Grey Creme, Sunny Sencha and the Peppy Mint peppermint, is £6.00 for a 50 g pouch, with 20 g tasters at £3.50 and a 150 g pouch at £16.00; the bestsellers also come in tea bags. Coconut Milk Oolong is £10.50 the 50 g. The matcha range starts from a Pure Grade Ceremonial Matcha at £22.00 for a 30 g tin, with a 100 g refill pouch at £54.00, which the company says underlies all its flavoured matchas.

What sets this branch apart is Yorkshire Rose Tea, which the store page introduces as its signature Leeds loose leaf: a black tea with fruity notes and rose petals, sold in a single 50 g pouch at £8.50, and the product page says half the profits go to charities chosen by the Leeds and York stores. The Leeds shop also runs a calendar of ticketed sessions it calls mixers, an hour or so of tasting seasonal blends, chai in autumn, Halloween and Christmas blends later, at £15.00 with two 50 g pouches to take home, plus the chain's tea blending and matcha workshops.