The ginger tea of Antwerp

The origins of Lombardia's ginger tea

The ginger tea was born in the rear section of Lombardia's at Table 18...

 

 

Patricia Ulenaers, through Facebook

The "conception' took place a few months earlier in my bedroom. I was dreaming of a certain sweet-smelling perfume, then woke up and wrote a recipe on my bedroom wall. Lombardia's kitchen was my laboratory and after a few disastrous experiments, I began the first trials of the ginger tea. A few willing customers at Lombardia agreed to be my organic guinea pigs and judge the taste of the blend.

Eureka! More than 80% of the responses were positive! Ginger tea took its rightful place on the menu at Lombardia!

Ginger tea: Antwerp on the world map

The months flew by and Lombardia's ginger tea became a real hit. Our customers chose to order ginger tea with their lunch instead of their usual drink.

On March 14th, 2006 a real-live article in the American "Wall Street Journal" took our breath away. An anonymous journalist listed Lombardia and its ginger tea as one of the 5 must-do's in Antwerp. The reaction to this article was amazing... A few weeks later an American talent scout turned up at Lombardia's after he had read the article in the American paper.

Ginger tea at Starbucks?

The solid recipe for the ginger tea and the outright optimism of the American talent scout led us to the headquarters of the biggest coffee chain in the world, Starbucks!

My own American dream came true! Would people be drinking my ginger tea around the world?

Alas, no! The negotiations and early development with Starbucks was put on hold after a while for financial reasons. Which was no problem, because the ginger tea had meantime been taken to a new level. Giving up was no longer an option.

The Belgian market gave us energy and we began the second chapter of Lombardia's ginger tea tale.

From Ginger Tea to GingerLove

The ginger tea was christened GingerLove and with support from the Belgian government a machine was developed to serve this unique drink.

Nowadays you can enjoy drinking GingerLove in many different locations in Belgium and the rest of the world. For more information, go to www.GingerLove.be

Did you know? World-renowned pop star Sting adored GingerLove, and he says it's good for your voice!

At Lombardia you can enjoy a drink of artisanal ginger tea as well as its alter ego GingerLove!

Joy Malcolm (singer with Moby) loves GingerLove