SC - tea and a question...

[Black Jade]

>
>Has anyone else discovered Lady Grey tea? Twinnings
>makes one. It's like earl grey except it has lemon and
>orange peel in it. Not tons, just a touch. It's really
>quite good.Does anyone know when earl grey tea showed
>up? Or how it came to be named after these nobles?
>JUst curious, and I thought this would be the palce to
>ask:)
>Nisha

I admit that I don't take anything in my tea.  I prefer it totally
unaduterated with lemon, milk, cream or anything.
I have a tea collection of around 20 different teas at home (I'm on first
name basis with the tea merchant here)  I like Lady Grey, athough I can't
stand Earl Grey. My favourite is Assam Special Estate Mangalam costing on
average $15.00 per 50g (which is the bane of my life at present since I
don't have much money to support this tea habit), followed closely by my
own blend consisting of afore mentioned Assam, dates for sweetness, roasted
dandelion and chicory root, ginger, orange peel (only a touch), calendula
and cornflower petals.

>From what I can glean from my resources (and this is only a quick check on
the subject, not an in depth reading, so I could be wrong)
Trading in tea from China started around 138BC and by the seventh and ninth
centuries, trade was established with Korea and Japan to the East, and
Persia, India, Afghanistan and Arabia to the West.  We often assume that
Japan was the only nation outside Britain to develop a tea drinking
ceremony, but I digress.
Although the British must have heard of tea and even drunk tea when abroad,
there is no record of it having been available in Britain until 1658.

I'll check more thoroughly later on.

- -A'adeema