News / news

According to Antony Burgess;

Samuel Pepys, the diarist of the reign of Charles II, who came to the British throne in1660, writes of having drunk “tee (a China drinke) of which I had never drank before,” He does not say whether he liked it or not. There was at first some dissension as to its preparation. It could be either too strong or too weak? Should it be sweetened or not? In the eighteenth century the greatest tea drinker of all time established the way the British were to drink it. This was Dr. Samuel Johnson, the lexicographer who created his huge English Dictionary single-handed, no doubt under the stimulation of tea. His teapot held two litres. He took it strong, the bite of the tannin being allayed with a little milk, adding sugar in little lumps. At the house of a distinguished lady, he kept passing his cup for more and more, until he had ingested thirty-two cups. The lady said: “Dr. Johnson, you drink too much tea.” Johnson said “Madam, you are insolent.”

The upper Assam valley, in north-eastern India, is the world’s largest tea producing region.

Its two thousand gardens account for almost a third of India’s annual harvest of 507 million kilograms, (compared to Darjeeling’s more modest 9.8 million kilograms) yet it was not until the early twentieth century that the jungle along the banks of the Brahmaputra River were finally cleared.

Wild tea plants sixty feet high were discovered in 1823, in what is one of the wettest and least hospitable regions of the world.

A typical Assam picker will pluck nearly fifty thousand stems per day, ‘fine plucking’ will consist of only the terminal bud and the first two leaves, a ‘coarse plucking’ includes the bud plus three, four or five leaves. The pickers are paid according to the weight as well as the quality of the plucking.

Oh so quick…

Just to say that both Elderflower and Stinging Nettle Teas are back in stock after a small hiatus. The Japanese Sencha Sakura and an unordered black Wild Cherry (rather than the green Wild Cherry) are back on the lists and in quantity. But most excitingly this week is a rather rare black Yunnan tea called GOLDEN PAGODA ORGANIC HAND TIED. It is quite sublime, a smooth, delicate and enjoyable taste and flavour as well as the joy of watching leaves that have been tied together slowly unfold into an anemone shape. We have filmed this riveting experience (obviously nothing better to do!) and may with any luck succeed with uploading it to YouTube. I will keep you informed.

A Golden Pagoda will only set you back a quid, go for it!

Enjoy your Tea, G