The Lawn – Earl Grey
You know when you go into Pret a Manger for a sandwich, and they don’t have a plain old boring cheese and pickle sandwich? Instead, you get a souped-up sarnie with cheese, pickle, roasted tomatoes, grilled onions, and, I don’t know, artichokes and kumquats or something. Some people find that sort of thing annoying. Not me. You can bung as many unexpected things in my sandwich as you like. Bring it on!
I mention it because this here Earl Grey from The Lawn Collection is very much the Pret sandwich of Earls Grey. Its label gives no indication that it’s anything more than a standard tea and bergamot blend, but behold! There are cornflowers! There are rose petals! And plenty of them! It’s all rather marvellous.
I always have time for rose petals in tea blends, and a flowery bergamotty black tea blend like this one is exactly the sort of thing that makes me happy. At the base of all the roses, cornflowers and bergamot flavours is a delicious Sri Lankan black tea. In fact, it’s specifically a Sri Lankan tea from the Uva province. I do like knowing exactly where my tea has come from.
I am unfamiliar with the area of Uva, but a little light research has revealed that its most famous features are the Dunhinda Falls, Diyaluma Falls, and the Yala National Park.
It was also, in 1817, one of the starting places of The Uva-Wellassa Uprising. (The other one being Wellassa.) Local people rebelled against the British Colonialists, who were literally lording it over them at the time. Given how the British generally behaved towards the local populaces in the colonies, an uprising seems like a totally reasonable response.
Sadly, the rebellion didn’t come to anything; the rebels were killed or captured, and the British powers made clear their displeasure by doubling down on the oppression and setting fire to literally everything in Uva, including people’s homes, livestock, salt stores and rice paddies (even though it seems like rice paddies would – by their very nature – be difficult things to set light to.)
All of which is slightly off the point, to be honest. Where was I? Oh yes. The Lawn Collection Earl Grey is a very nice cup of tea.
I reviewed this teamonger’s rhubarb ‘n’ rooibos blend a few months ago. I was most excited about the fact that The Lawn are based a hop, skip and a jump from Tea Fancier Towers in the self-same town that I call home. I really want to drop them a line and ask if I can come and look at their tea headquarters, but I haven’t yet mustered up the courage to do so.
Maybe I should just keep reviewing their teas until they notice me.
Today’s book pairing is The Warden by Anthony Trollope. Although it wasn’t published until some time after Earl Grey’s tenure as Prime Minister, Trollope and Charles, 2nd Earl Grey were at least alive during the same time for a while.
This site uses Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click on an Amazon link from this page and make a purchase, I will – at no cost to you – earn a small commission.
