Hello again: It's been an intense week traveling with Mr. and Mrs. Pratt, but I am finally settling back into my regular fall routine. I thought today I would talk about some famous named teas, Earl Grey, Prince of Wales, Queen Anne and Queen Mary. Earl Grey is the West's most popular tea, most popular black tea, and most popular scented tea, in that order. Named after the 1830's Prime Minister it is traditionally any tea flavored with bergamot. Corfu was the center of bergamot trade during the time the British Meditererranean Fleet was headquartered there and commanded by Lord Grey from London, Bickering still continues between Twinings and Jacksons of Picadilly as to who rightfully has the original recipe. Prince of Wales is a proprietary blend created by Twinings for Edward VIII, the abdicator. Edward apparently granted Twinings permission to resell his personal blend using his royal title in 1921. Queen Anne is a popular tea blend created in 1907 by Fortnum & Mason to commemorate the reigning sovereign at the time company was established in 1707 (must have been a bicentenial). It is a blend of some of the best gardens of Assam and Ceylon producing a strong, smooth tea suitable for all day drinking. Queen Mary is another proprietary Twinings blend consisting of muscatel Darjeelings, and much beloved by the wife of George V.
WOW! That's a mouthful (of tea). Keep drinking and I will keep bloging. See you all at Tea Fact Friday. Thanks to James Norwood Pratt's Tea Dictionary, published by Tea Society Press, San Francisco, CA, printed in India, for the information provided.
Julee
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