Our story

One tin, one kettle, one quiet room

Silverleaf opened on Marian Road in 2019 because Calabar deserved a place to sit with a real pot of tea. Seven years on, it is still about slowing down.

A woman with her hair in a bun holding a cup of tea

Our founder at the counter, early on a Tuesday.

We grew up on tea with milk and plenty of sugar, the kind you drink quickly before school. Silverleaf is the other kind: tea you sit with.

Our founder, Ekaette, found a highland black tea from the Mambilla Plateau at a trade fair and could not believe how good it was, or how few people in the south had tasted it. She left her job, borrowed a kettle and started pouring it at weekend markets. Within a year, there were queues, and the little room on Marian Road followed.

Seven years

How the room came together

Weekend markets

One table, one kettle, one tea. The cocoa chai was born on a cold harmattan morning.

First market stall near the waterfront.

Marian Road

We took the ground floor of an old family house and painted the shutters plum.

Six tables and a borrowed generator.

Afternoon tea

Nneka joined, the pastry kitchen opened and the first three tier stands went out.

Now three seatings a day.

The flavour wheel

We mapped every tea to six families and eighteen notes, so guests could order by taste.

Card versions on every table.

The people

Who pours your tea

Ekaette

Founder and blender

Left a bank job in 2019 with one tin of Mambilla black tea and a plan. Still blends every tea on Mondays.

Bassey

Tea master

Trained his palate over ten years in hotel kitchens. Knows every kettle temperature by the sound it makes.

Nneka

Pastry chef

Starts baking at six. The cocoa tart is hers, and so is the zobo jelly nobody can stop eating.

Team names are examples for this demo.

In numbers

14teas on the wall

12tables in the room

3kettles, three temperatures

6amwhen the scones go in

What we care about

Small, careful and local where we can

Nigerian tea first. Most of the wall comes from the Mambilla Plateau.
Fair prices agreed with growers before the harvest, not after.
Staff paid properly, trained for three months before they pour alone.
Tins refilled at a discount, and no plastic tea bags.
A generator and inverter so the kettles never stop during outages.

An elegant old parlour with armchairs and a fireplace

Marian Road, Calabar

Come and meet the team

Pull up a chair at the counter and ask Bassey anything about tea. He will probably make you taste something.

Plan your visit The tea wall