Chai Wallah Margate – Lavender Earl Grey and Rose Earl Grey
Happy Platinum Jubilee everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your long bank holiday weekend. (Well, those of you in the UK obviously. I do appreciate that tea appreciation is an international pastime.)
To celebrate 70 years of our monarch’s top-notch queening, I wanted to find out what the Queen’s favourite tea was. All sources suggest that Her Majesty’s go-to cuppa is Twinings Earl Grey.
Twinings Earl Grey is a regular in the Tea Fancier household. It’s my first cup of tea in the morning. But I’ve already done this one. It was one of the very first teas I reviewed here.
So I decided to sample some other Earl Greys instead. In case Her Maj is reading this (and I see no earthly reason why she wouldn’t be) and is feeling like a bit of a change.
Chai Wallah Margate’s Lavender Earl Grey and Rose Earl Grey are both magnificent. I do love flowery black tea. And Chai Wallah Margate doesn’t muck about with the floweriness. Both blends are festooned with dry flowers.
The Rose Earl Grey is positively pink in colour and the lavender blend looks like it would be at home in a scented drawer sachet.
The teamongers describe Lavender Earl Grey as “rich bergamot infused robust black tea with lavender”. And, yes, the tea would have to be very robust indeed to withstand this onslaught of florality. Happily, it does the job admirably.
Rose Earl Grey is a slightly more subtle affair. Although ‘subtle’ probably isn’t the right word for a tea which is bursting at the seams with rose petals like this one.
If you aren’t fond of floral pot-pourri-esque teas then these two teas are not for you. But I love such things. Honesty Chai Wallah Margate’s Lavender Earl Grey and Rose Earl Grey are masterful examples of the art of turning the scents of the Yardley soap collection into an eminently drinkable beverage.
In fact, I don’t think I’m exaggerating even a little bit when I say that both these teas are fit for a queen.
Today’s featured books are Kings and Queens of England by M C Scott Moncrieff and Gimson’s Kings & Queens by Andrew Gimson.
