Loose-leaf Kenyan black tea scented with bergamot, in a gift tin with a hand-carved olive wood spoon.
What Earl Grey actually is
Black tea flavoured with oil of bergamot — and bergamot is worth knowing about, because most people who drink Earl Grey daily have never seen one.
Citrus bergamia is a sour citrus, roughly the size of an orange and the colour of a lime, grown almost entirely in a narrow coastal strip of Calabria in southern Italy. The fruit itself is too sour and bitter to eat; it is grown for the oil in its peel, which is one of the most distinctive aromatics in existence and turns up in perfumery as often as in tea. Nothing else smells like it.
Why Kenyan tea underneath it
Most Earl Grey is built on a Chinese black or a blend. A Kenyan base gives something different: brisk, bright and full-bodied, with more colour and more punch. It stands up better to milk, if you take milk, and it makes an Earl Grey that works as a proper morning tea rather than only as an afternoon one.
Brewing it
Water just off the boil, three to four minutes, one teaspoon per cup. Do not oversteep: bergamot oil is delicate and a long brew buries it under the tannin of the base tea, which is the commonest way people ruin Earl Grey.
Milk is a matter of preference and genuine disagreement. It softens the tea but also mutes the bergamot; lemon is the more traditional choice, and a slice of orange is worth trying.
JusTea
The Bain family from Canada partnered with the Katah family and the Nandi Hills community to build Kenya's first small-scale farmer-owned artisanal tea factory. The company is verified by the Fair Trade Federation. The olive wood spoon is carved by artisan families from off-cuts left over from larger items — turning waste into income.
Note
Contains caffeine. Store in the tin, closed, away from light and strong smells — scented teas fade faster than plain ones.
Biohême
Criatura
Criatura
Biohême
