Coventina is a distilled tea gin from Morgan’s Brew the tea company based in Welshpool, Powys. Morgan’s Brew have been working with the North Star Distillery to produce, Coventina, a Tea Gin infused with Oolong Green Tea & Blackcurrants at 40% Vol. The gin is a distilled tea Gin with the teas being added into the distillation, to ensure it is part of the botanicals and helps to give a better flavour to the gin.
Coventina Gin has evolved over the years with the ever entrepreneurial Morgans Brew. Geoff Meredith of Morgan’s Brew tells Welsh Country of the background to this incredibly delicious gin.
“As you know over the years we have always tried to work with other food business since we started and one of these is Brecon Brewery where we supplied two teas to make tea flavoured beer. The teas used were Brecon Breakfast and Pu-erh, both made in small batches to test the market. The resultant beers were both pale ales in 500ml bottles with a 4.5 ABV had a good response but the partnership lapsed. The lesson we learnt though was that alcohol-tea infusion works.
The next trial was Cherry Rhubarb, Earl Grey and Tropical Fruit tea to be used to infuse gin and made by a retired distiller from Harlech. This was very popular but the partnership finished due to the distiller having other commitments.
So we kept asking and we started to supply Alex and Ellen at the Welsh Wind Distillery with teas and infusion for their own blend as we still do, also suppling infusion mixes to the Warwickshire Gin Company.
Morgan’s Brew also supplies teas and infusions to two meaderies. The first was Ben at Shire Meadery in Aberystwyth who uses a few of our fruit infusions to flavour his meads. In Wrexham we supply teas and infusion to the Stone Circle Meadery,
Last summer I met up with Matt from the North Star Distillery and we got talking about working together to produce a distilled tea gin over the summer. Matt had a few samples of teas and fruit infusion and over six months of blending different teas and infusion he came up with the combination of using the Oolong Green Teas and a Blackcurrant Fruit infusion as an ingredient to add to the botanicals to make a really good flavoured gin also at 40% ABV Coventina”.
This has been described by one drinker:
“A gin with a wonderful aftertaste that cuts through the mixer. If you use them or drink neat is smooth and decadent allowing the flavours to truly show their wings”
The name Coventina comes from the Celtic high priestess of the old Celtic Tale Coventina, the Queen of the River Goddesses, Wells and Springs. Celtic in origin and used in Romano – British Times with offering to her she is associated with healing, renewal, abundance, new beginnings, life cycles, inspiration, wishes and prophecy. Being a River Goddess she is connected to the ebb and flow of time
Coventina Gin is a combination of two businesses to produce a great spirit.
