Elite Event: Gluten-Free and Tea, Tea, Tea at Loudons

Stellar event from Cressi!
I was (naturally) v excited when this Elite event was posted. Being gf then this can be an issue sometimes but a whole event dedicated to ‘special needs’, yes please!
We tasted loads of cakes — some cakes weren’t gf but at least about 6 were which was fab. I think my favourite was probably the one I had correctly guessed was the gf vegan banana and nut cake — yum!
Loudons have been increasing their gf offerings and this was thanks to chef Daniella who makes fab scones, cakes and had us making cookies down in the kitchen which was great fun.
Our tea tasting from Jon at Pekoe tea was great. Jon is so knowledgable about his product so it is a joy to listen to the tea talk and sample things I wouldn’t normally consider.
So it was a fab event — thanks to the gang at Loudons provided fab cakes, biscuits and fizz, Pekoe tea and Cressi for a great (and sadly last CM outing) event!

Oops, apologies all round for the late review. I think I’ve just about come down after the sugar rush! It was a great night, after fizz, we were treated to a delightful awry of guess-​me cakes. Felt a little bit like Alice and Wonderland, wondering what each cake is and what effect it’ll have on me! Luckily I don’t need to avoid such things as dairy or wheat but it’s good to know that most cakes can taste just as good with naughties such as sugar, dairy and wheat removed! The favourite was the ever-​so-​naughty Lime and Lemon cake, which had nothing removed! Tasted soooo good! I’ll be back for more!
We were then introduced to Pekoe teas, who knew their stuff! This was really interesting, however the tastings were too small for my liking. All I really wanted was a big mug of tea, to cradle it in my hands while listening to Mr T take us through the tea journey. If only just to wash away the sweetness of all the cakes we’d sampled! The tea session has increased my respect for tea and it’s diversity though. I never knew there were so many teas out there and the differences between flavoured tea and real tea, fascinating. I shall make sure I wait for the hot water to get to the perfect temperature before making my next proper cuppa!
Following the tea tasting we got our chance to sport the rather fetching waterproof superhero ‘aprons’ and head down into the workings of Loudons café, the kitchen! Where we got a chance to mould our gluten free cookies into shapes of our desire and take them home in cute cardboard boxes. I would have liked to have seen how they were made and got a bit more involved in mixing the dough together, but I imagine that would have over shot our busy schedule.
Resurfacing into the café we were welcomed back with more fizz, the awards for the cake guess-​me were delivered and Cressi surprised us all by telling us she was leaving as Unilocal CM in search of new pastures… Great night for Cressi’s last night as CM, such a shock to see her go. You will be greatly missed. Big thanks to Loudons for hosting as great night for all and Pekoe tea as guest speakers. My plus one, Tara, really enjoyed her night — hopefully you see more of her in the Unilocal community again soon.

my oh my! I’m such a fool. I don’t know why I ate supper before this event. However, I was able to eat all of the delicious Loudon’s cake (and more!)
I haven’t been to a Unilocal event in a while and this event reminded me why Unilocal is such a great community! kudos to Cressida!
Upon entering I was welcomed with a glass of sparkling wine. There was a huuuuge table with various cakes on it. We all did a taste test to decipher if a cake was gluten free, sugar free, dairy free, or gluten. It was good fun trying to figure out which was which. My favourite cake was the lime and coconut square.
Following the cake test, we were put into two groups. One group went downstairs to the kitchen to bake and the other group (which I was in) was presented with a tea lesson. I now feel like a mild tea expert. The presenter was very informative and made tea sounds ‘very cool’.
Afterwards my group headed downstairs and we got our baking Unilocal garbage bag-​esque aprons on! We all baked our own gluten free cookies. I’m always fascinated with kitchens. The kitchen at Loudon’s is mega cool. Very industrial but with a giant wooden table in the middle — perfect for baking.
Overall — a great night. Good luck with your future endeavors, Cressida!

I was really looking forward to this event as I love the combination of cake and tea. The location was well chosen and us Unilocalers we had Loudons all to ourselves that evening. What an honour to have the owners telling us about their past introduction of new processes and current plans to remodel and improve their till systems as well as to satisfy customer needs who are not able to eat gluten, eggs nor sugar.
Our event gave us the opportunity to taste a selection of fantastic cake pieces of which the chocolate brownie and carrot cake were my favourite. Apparently my taste buds are not keen on anything without sugar, egg nor gluten, but for anybor else with allergies or intolerances this place and its cakes is dream haven.
All Unilocalers participated in a quiz to guess which ingredients are or are not missing in the cake samples provided. There were about 10 different samples at least. We had two lucky winners who both received a price of bubbly, one of them being Claire L.
This not enough we were split into two groups and we all could soak in the amazing knowledge of «Tea variations and its origins». At the end I was literally «tea drunk» from all the wisdom shared by PakeaTea. There is no doubt that I will soon be chasing the Blue Lady of which the grapefruit ingredient was the most enticing. Thank goodness for the country of China making it possible to the world and us to drink their precious teas of which there are over 150 variations. Can you imagine?
Sadly we only tasted about 3 samples and smelled a few others. No doubt, I want more… :-)
Downstairs in their kitchen we baked our own cookies. And even I am not necessarily a talented baker the result was delicious. We had an expert baker meister as our lady teacher. Not to mention being patient with us and keeping her awake longer than usual. Work starts around 4 in the morning, which means deep slumber for some of us lovelies.
Thank you Cressida, The Loudons Team and Pekea Tea for a fabulous and entertaining evening. Hope to come by very soon for more of your delicious offerings.

May is now officially here, does that mean get out of storage your speedos and shorts, buy some strawbs & cream to get ready for another glorious season, or get in your Prius and go for a drive? I thought of a great way to spend time in the city inbetween work is with a bunch of folks all eager to indulge in the fruits of the loom within one of Edinburgh’s spacious cafes — Loudons. It was an evening of gluten-​free treats, tea tasting and fun at our recent Unilocal Elite event, and our most recent CM’s last.
With many many thanks to Cressi for arranging yet another wizard evening there were that many of us we got split into two groups. Some got to see the special basement space, to produce some fantastic gluten-​free biscuits to take away before they left, for the rest a taste session by Jon from Pekoe Tea. His devotion, passion and knowledge of the leaf was a privilege to listen to, thanks again Jon you gave lots of facts. From the decaf process to blended and infusions of flavours in the 1000+ types of tea that’s available; yes you can even get yellow tea.
Me I had to go early, so missed the bakery part when we swapped I couldn’t drink due to work commitments but my plus one enjoyed a couple of glasses of luscious fizz through the evening. We even managed to squeeze in a brief chat with Marion the chef who creates the lush cakes and bites available here regarding the gluten-​free process. For those who don’t yet know it’s the abscence of wheat, in bread anyhow.
Cressi let us know that she is moving onto pastures new and in true style the night did fly by, but what I missed by not baking, I more than made up for in meeting newbies to the Edinburgh Unilocal scene. So if you want a slice of the action next time your in town drop the CM (once she regenerates) an email and no doubt you’ll be spending a few fantastic hours in good company.

Thanks, Cressi, for organizing a lovely last Elite event for us! The gluten-​free challenge was such a clever excuse to try a gazillion cakes. Also, I feel like I fit in a little bit better in my adopted homeland now that I know something about tea.

What an evening to behold! This was a dazzling, active, energetic and fun event that wowed us all. On arrival, I oggled over Loudon’s lovely selection of cakes that they had prepared especially for us. It was so lovely to see so many Unilocalers out for the event, and I had fun catching up with regulars, being reunited with long-​lost Unilocalers from ages back, and meeting many newbies and also Unilocal visitors from across the UK. It was quite a crowd, assembled for quite am event!
The evening kicked off with a fun quiz — I always love a quiz with cake tasting involved! It was indeed a challenge to assess all ten cakes and identify whether they were gluten free, dairy free, egg free, or sugar free (each cake was free of at least one!). The event only could have been improved by a run-​down of what was free of what at the end since we were so engaged with cake-​tasting, cookie baking, and tea tasting throughout the evening that this slipped through the cracks but was probably planned to happen.
Next, it was fun to see Loudon’s kitchens and meet the lovely baker behind it all. During this activity I firstly enjoyed wearing the Unilocal superhero poncho to keep my dress clean while forming my own gluten free white chocolate and cherry cookies. It was fun to see everyone’s different cookie creations which baked perfectly under the patient attention of Loudon’s expert baker.
Last stop of the evening was tea tasting with the lovely folk from Pekoe Tea. They were so passionate about what they do, and it was fantastic to learn from their wealth of knowledge about the history of tea, the different types of tea and infusions, and also their tips for the best tea brewing methods. Although my tea tasting session was cut a bit short because so much had been crammed into the evening, I look forward to visiting their shop in Tolcross to learn more from them.
It was an all-​around stellar event to try new things, which broadened my horizons in gluten free cake and in loose leaf tea. I also enjoyed the evening so much because it allowed me to witness the passion behind these fantastic local businesses — the whole family working to make Loudon’s a success and also the business partners who have brought Pekoe Tea to great heights.
Although I’ll be so sad that Cressi will no longer be our brilliant Edinburgh CM, this event was the perfect send-​off for her (and of course we’ll still see her on Unilocal so it’s not ‘goodbye’!). Thank you for a lovely event, Cressi, and to Loudon’s and Pekoe Tea of course for their generosity!

What a great evening it was! Loudons welcomed us with a glass of fizz, giving plenty of time meeting familiar and new faces!
I have been quite a few times in this place, mostly for coffee and cake, but also for brunch, so it was interesting to be invited in this Unilocal event.
Loudons offered a big variety of cakes to try and a challenge too: identify which ones were gluten free, sugar free, egg free or dairy free. I’m telling you this wasn’t easy, but it definitely was the tastiest challenge I have faced! Afterwards we headed to the secret lab of Loudons goodness: the kitchen downstairs!!! Biscuit dough was provided to all the attendants to make gluten-​free cranberry and white chocolates cookies ( Unilocal had foreseen this and provided Ponchos! High five!). We were all pleased with the experience and the cookies tasted so good! Thanks to Daniela, the Loudons baker — she’s excellent!
Finally, the Pekoe-​tean gentleman and his colleague introduced us to the world of tea tasting, that is quite a topic! I was surprised to hear that someone can be «tea drunk»!!! That would be so Fun! :)
Many thanks to Loudons for hosting this event (looking forward to the new recipes) and SPECIAL thanks to Cressi for the rhyme and the wonderful evening!!!

What a treat it was to be invited to along to my first ever Unilocal event!
We were welcomed into Loudons with a glass of fizz and a chance to mingle with lots of lovely people. The café was lovely and bright with plenty of open space to chat with fellow Unilocalers. Following that we got stuck into the ‘gluten-​free or not’ challenge which provided the wonderful opportunity to eat an array of delicious cakes for dinner (what could be better?!) For a sweet tooth like me, this was heaven. I’m not sure whether it was gluten-​free on not, but I have to say the coconut and lime cake was amazing. With tummies full of cakey-​goodness we headed downstairs to for some fun with biscuit dough. This involved making scrumptious gluten-​free cranberry and white chocolate cookies, whilst geared up in stylish Unilocal ponchos. After another glass of fizz, we got stuck into some tea tasting. The Pekoe-​tea man taught us all about teas and gave us the chance to try some different types including a white tea, a green tea and a tea with a fishy aroma. I now appreciate that as I sit here with my mug of rooibos I am in fact enjoying an infusion, not a tea!
Overall the night was a great chance to meet lots of new people. The café was lovely and would be a perfect spot for some crochet or crafting as it’s very spacious. The evening provided a lovely break from revision and I had a lovely walk home, munching on my freshly baked cookies!

Lots of tasty cakes, some fizz and new teas to try. What a great event and in a great space. Loudons is a fab café and they go out of their way to cater for people with food intolerences/​allergies so that everyone can enjoy good food, especially cake. What a fantastic ethos. I love that it’s a family affair too, they are clearly passionate about what they do.
We got to sample a table load of cakes — 10 in total — and there was a wee quiz to work out which were gluten/​egg/​sugar/​dairy free. i had no idea but tasting them all was soo much fun.
Cookie making with chef Daniella was fun and a wee bit competitive — what shape to make/​how many to bake. We were like kids in candy store. Daniella was great, sharing tips and hints for baking with GF flour and polenta and making sure our cookies were baked to perfection. Who knew gluten free cookies could taste so good?. I’m planning a return trip to try Daniella’s white choc and orange cookies soon.
But that wasn’t all. Then there was a tea testing with the fab duo behind Pekoe tea at Tollcross. I learned the difference between tea and infusions, tried white tea, oolong tea and another I can’t remember the name of.
All in all it was a great night, a testament to the folks at Loudons and at Pekoe tea and of course Cressi, who made it a night to remember and will be sorely missed as Edinburgh’s CM.

What happens when you combine delicious consumables, friendly Unilocalers, a whole darn lot of passion and give it a big ol’ stir? Gluten-​Free and Tea, Tea, Tea at Loudons!
The lovely Cressida (who will be missed sorely!) was kind enough to invite me along to have a taste of the Unilocal Elite life. And oh, what a taste it was!
Firstly, we were treated to sampling a table jam packed with gluten free/​sugar free/​egg free/​dairy free treats. We were tasked with making our best guesses as to which of the various free-​from boxes each cake ticked. I think a lot of people found this hard as thoughts didn’t extend much past ‘everything is so goooood!’.
After that we were split in half and thrust onwards onto our next little activity. For my team, this was a tearrific talk from the delightful duo behind Pekoe Tea. They had something of a laboratory set up which was apt, considering how much science there is behind the art of tea making. All very informative and the teas went perfectly with the leftover pieces of cake!
Then we got to visit the beating heart of Loudons; the kitchen! Chef Daniella imparted a few words of wisdom and supervised cookie making en masse. Listening her talk about her love of food and watching her eyes light up when she talked about trying new gluten free and vegan creations was utterly inspiring.
I left with a belly full of cake, a box of gluten free cookies and a big smile on my face. Loudons were über hospitable and although devastated to see Cressi go, her mammoth efforts certainly pleased this crowd in her final showdown.

Thank you to Cressi F for a wonderful LAST EVER elite event at the helm of Unilocal Edinburgh! We were invited along to Loudon’s (one of those, I’ve always meant to try kind of places), to taste a variety of ‘free from’ cakes and enjoy a tea sampling put on by Tollcross’s PekoeTea.
These are my confessions! I know, I’ve gone all Usher on you, but I have a confession to make. I don’t like ‘free from’ food. And, erm, last night didn’t change my mind I’m afraid. Apart from the brownie, I swear there was nothing missing from it! But the other cakes, I missed the eggs! And the dairy! And the sugar! The gluten I can take or give, but oh I need the others. That’s not to say that the cakes we were given to try didn’t all have lovely flavours, but texture wise I found many of them to be dry. I won’t be going vegan any time soon, mama needs her animal products. I’m still scratching my head as to what was missing from the brownie…
PekoeTea gave us a very informative histortea lesson, and had a selection of different types (white, green, Oolong, black etc.) to sniff and inspect in great detail. I hadn’t realised that white tea leaves actually have little white hairs! And I’m massively taken by the super cool tea brewing pot that they had, it looks like something you’d find in a chemistry lab. I think I’d personally prefer the white tea to be brewed a little longer so it was a bit more flavourful and a little less like scented hot water, and I can’t quite make up my mind about the Pue Erh tea either — it’s apparently a great digestive, but it smells and tastes like smoked haddock. Hmm. It was rather drinkable in a strange way… But I did really appreciate PekoeTea taking the time to explain everything to us, I learnt a lot!
And then gluten-​free cookie baking! Loudon’s had provided a big batch of cookie dough that we were let loose on, to roll and mould into whatever biscuitty shape we fancied before being baked. I had one of mine for breakfast, pretty good if I do say so myself (which I do, as I didn’t make the dough so can take none of the credit for its delicious taste!).
The night ended with the shock announcement that Cressi will be leaving us for the world of theatre marketing. It’s our loss, but definitely the arts’ gain! Thank you Cressi for being a wonderful CM over the last 8 months and for a fun event last night.

How very cheeky of me to have attended two Unilocal events in one week. — Both in different cities!
But when the prospect of tea and cake is just a train journey away in our wonderfully pretty capital city of Edinburgh, quite frankly, how could I say no? How could anyone say no? In the huge, spacious and bright Loudons, we were welcomed warmly. A family business with passion and integrity, it was the perfect spot for a tea and cake-​themed event. And drink tea and eat cake we did!
Firstly, could we guess, out of a selection of cakes and sweet treats, just which were gluten free, sugar free, egg free or dairy free? Boy, oh, boy. — This was tough! Mainly because my brain was filling with thoughts of NOM, YUM, WOW and MMM at such a quick rate that I’d forgotten about the task at hand. Really, everything was delightful. — We really were treated to a delicious mix of cakes! So delicious that picking a favourite is an impossible task. — I loved them all! It’s great that they devote so many recipes that aim to cater for everyone and all without compromising taste and quality.
Next, on to tea-​riffic tea tasting with the lovely Pekoetea team. Wow. We were treated to tea served the way it should be, at optimal temperature and perfect brewing time. My favourite part was getting to try a precious cup of the world’s most expensive teas. — Da Hong Pao! What an experience and what a unique flavour. Thank you, Pekoetea. It was also great to hear about the history and origins of the tea itself.
After the tea, we were headed downstairs for some baking. The lovely baker, Daniela, was so very passionate and helped us make gluten free cookies with white chocolate and berries. They were so yummy and I’m dreaming of enjoying another cookie over tea this afternoon. It was really nice to take a little part of the Unilocal event home to enjoy over the next few days.
It was so lovely to be a part of Cressi’s last event, to meet you lovely Edinburgh Unilocalers and to enjoy tea and cake at Loudons. Thank’s for having me! Next time I’m in Edinburgh it’ll be Loudons for lunch and cake, before a spot of tea at Pekoetea. I can’t wait!

What a lovely send off for our Cressida eh?
Loudons is a lovely, spacious setting for an event, and I thought the brothers did themselves justice with their warm hosting.
The star (s) of the show I felt were the various samplers of cakes for the Guess what’s in the cake game. I had a great deal of fun chatting away with people about what we thought was in what, and which one we like. I think the consensus was the Lemon and Lime cake with the butter (OR WAS IT DAIRY FREE???) icing in it was the favourite.
I thought the baking bit was fun if a little simple, but I suspect actual baking for that many people might be a little beyond the time constraints!
I was pretty bored by the tea guys, I thought the demo/​talk was pretty dull. I think he did say something about doing things differently normally but there was too many of us or something? Regardless of technical problems he simply wasn’t loud enough and I tuned out a few times. As for the actual beverages, interesting stuff but i’m still not a tea fan, give me a cappuccino any day, especially from Loudons!
It was great to meet a lot of new faces, and sad to lose our lovely CM but excited for her new adventure!

Such a WONDERFUL event! I loved every minute of it! I already have loved Loudons for lunch, and now my cake and tea fix might be met there as well!
They had a wonderful spread of different cakes and bars for us to try and figure out which one were gluten free, dairy free, or egg free!
All of them we’re good and I’d say 98% of them I’d order if I went in they were awesome! Only like two were obviously «all –free» and a bit too much for the sugar lover in me! BUT the polenta cake was AMAZING! Totally shocked me! I think I went back and scavenged all the leftovers of that one!
Such fun trying to guess too! I loved all the cute little challenges Cressi planed! And with my check –in to the event, I got a free Ryme by Cressi ;) it was fab!
Then there was an amazing Tea tasting and history provided by Pekoe Tea. I learned so much about tea leaves and how I’ve been drinking «Infussions» not TEA with my herbal blends! AND now I know how making my green tea without scorching it! Genius! So much knowledge and great tea samples I really liked the Pu-​erh tea at the end! So refreshing!
And speaking of refreshing did I mentioned We were greeted with a glass of bubbly on entry and at the end finished off the night with another! Endless tastings of cake (well for me since I went back after everyone went off to their assigned session — Tea tasting or cookie baking! And i mean it was just gonna go to waste… I admit I lured others into taking more treats too… what can i say I am a cake addict!) By the way, did you know you can be «tea drunk» that’s what the Tea man said! Watch out ! haha
After the tea tasting, we went to make some gluten free white chocolate cranberry cookies… Yes, they were ever MORE more amazing than they sound! I’ve never had such wonderful gluten free cookies! I even ate some of the dough and it was delicious! The baker was SO nice and we had some lovely side conversations about her passion of making GREAT food and desserts for people who have to eat «free-​from». I Love eating food that people put passion into!
The whole evening was lovely and the owners of Loudons are a family and it was cool to hear how they used each of their persaonl tallents and skills to put the place together! Loved it!
We went back the next day for lunch there, because we’re the food is great! Can’t argue with what is fresh, homemade and delicious!
Thanks again Cressi for a wonderful nite! We are going to miss you so much!

It’s such a delight be invitied along to great events such as this one, to emered in passion both from pekoe tea and loudons.
First of we had to guess what cakes were gluten, egg, dairy or sugar free — this was difficult as they tasted delicious despite being free of certain intolernces.
We were spilt into two groups for the tea tasting and the cookie making, so Mr C and I choose to do the tea tasting first. Really intresting talk about tea and how many teas there are!
Cookie making was great! Mmmmmm cookies for breakfast me thinks so!
The staff at loudons are so talented and have so much passion. i didn’t realised that it was family run, not only that the Dad designed the tables, mum designed the interior and they all work together to create a wonderful ambience in store!
Last but not least, we found out that is is Cressida’s last event — OMG (I’m still in shock). Firstly I just want to thank Cressida for including me in Elite events and being so friendly. And now I wish her the very best in her next role. Gonna miss you Cressida!
Had an amazing but very educational night!

So the amazing Cressida extended an invite to me for this elite event (cuz I was visiting, and Unilocalers are known for being awesome and helpful!)
I met so many nice people tonight, and we got to sample 10 types of baked treats which were (1 or more of) dairy /​egg /​sugar /​gluten-​free. Pretty cool, the lime and coconut was one of my favs! We also had to guess what they were free from, as they had 2 bottles of fizz to give away.
We were split off into groups, where we got to see the kitchen where all the magic happens, and we got to bake our own mini batch of cookies, and they smelled amazing. Next, we went upstairs for tea where the Pekoe Tea guru told us some interesting tea facts, the difference between white, green, black, etc tea, a bit of history, how to steep properly, and we got to sample a few types.
Anyway, these guys are serious about their tea and make sure you get a good cup steeped, down to the water temperature! It’s a family run business, pops apparently made the wooden furniture himself, mom did the interior, and her boys are helping out with the show. Amazing! Though I’m not living in Edinburgh, I highly recommend to go back AFTER May.err.25? They are doing a new menu launch, adding more breakfast items, and it seems they have some yummy stuff in store.
Thanks Cressida and Loudons for putting on a fantastic event!