BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Drink Tea Ride Bikes is the brainchild of cycle photographer and designer Sam Needham and cycle marketing man Robin Puplett.
The brand supplies limited edition clothing and blended tea for tea drinking bike enthusiasts.
The Yorkshire brand’s t-shirts are hand printed and produced in limited edition quantities, with an evolving line-up of tea-inspired cycle t-shirts. The brand said: "From T-shirts to tea bags, our carefully selected teas are perfectly blended for cyclists and tea connoisseurs alike. After years of dedicated research, we have concluded that no science- based recovery drink quite hits the spot when compared to a good old cuppa after a fun day in the saddle."
Co-founder Robin Puplett, former marketeer of Altura Technical Bikewear, Burton Snowboards and Gravis Footwear told BikeBiz: "It started as a hobby project after Sam [Needham] came up with a doodle. After working on it for six months we soft launched it and put something on Facebook and the reception was good. Now it’s gone off the hook, it’s gone crazy. I’ve moved onto it full time.
"We’ve already had people say ‘why tea? I like coffee’…it was literally based on a sketch book doodle from Sam – so tea it is!"
Tea drinking bike enthusiasts Needham and Puplett source all design, communication, testing and tasting.
Needham said: "We love riding bikes, we love the good times and we love a good cuppa. That’s what DTRB is all about, having fun and getting out on two wheels."
Puplett commented: "It’s crazy how fast we have progressed to this stage and it’s only just the beginning. These are exciting and busy times for us and we’ve got so much more in the pipeline."
The brand is retailing directly from its site at the moment, but Puplett told BikeBiz that Drink Tea Ride Bikes "wants and needs" to be retailed through bike shops. "We’ve had some retailers approach us and we want to do it, but we want to do it right, so we’re working on the details and hopefully by the end of the summer we’ll be able to supply bike shops.
"Going direct to consumer is all very well but it feels like we’re around the bike industry, rather than part of it – which is what we want to be. We’ll be appearing at events and we’ve got a lot of ideas to come so watch this space."
