Queen Victoria's tea
British tea culture is often associated with Queen Victoria. Thanks to earlier posts, we have explored some of these associations. I've seen many references to queen Victoria having a preferred tea blend. Interestingly enough, I haven't seen a consensus on what that actually was. One says Keenum and Yunam black teas which are both teas from China. Others say a combination of Assam and Darjeeling which are both teas from India. The only thing that they seem to agree on is the year, 1876. I'm inclined to think that she liked the Assam/Darjeeling blend because she was the empress of India after all. She is also said to have loved curry, and spent her later years studying Hindi and Indian culture through one of her servants.
I figured that even though I don't know the exact proportions, I could brew some Assam and Darjeeling together. So, I dug through my big bag of tea and spices from the grocery store, and discovered I don't have any Assam. Sigh. I substituted a teaspoon of my English breakfast tea. The only Darjeeling I have is bagged tea, so I tossed in a tea bag. While I started with 2 cups of water, I ended up with a little over a cup and a half of tea at the end.
I ended up with a cup of tea that is better than the English breakfast tea alone. I know Victoria is known for having a sweet tooth, so she would most certainly have added sugar to her tea, and probably milk as well. I decided to toss a framed piece of lace in the picture since queen Victoria liked lace, and the lace used in her days was all made by hand. The "Victoria" series from the BBC that is shown on PBS is really popular among the bobbin lace circles because the costumes have some really nice examples of bobbin lace. I found this particular piece of lace already framed at a thrift store. On the back it says that it is hand made lace purchased in Bruges. Since I make lace, I knew right away that this is not made by hand (and added an additional note on the back of the lace stating I am a lace maker, and this is categorically not hand made). It is however, a nice looking piece of lace, and I probably paid all of a quarter for it.
I''m sure that whatever Victoria's favorite tea blend was, it was made with better quality tea than what I was using. I got this idea for a post from a birthday present from my sister. She sent me a gift card to my favorite tea shop. While I haven't made the trip to spend the gift card yet, I look at it often, and enjoy spending time flipping through the tea shop's book of offerings and fantasizing about what I want to get. While I don't currently plan on buying the queen's blend, I do have my eye on a Chinese black tea that is good for gongfu brewing. Along with my usual need for Kenyan black tea and more ginger pu-erh. Anticipation is definitely part of the enjoyment.
I figured that even though I don't know the exact proportions, I could brew some Assam and Darjeeling together. So, I dug through my big bag of tea and spices from the grocery store, and discovered I don't have any Assam. Sigh. I substituted a teaspoon of my English breakfast tea. The only Darjeeling I have is bagged tea, so I tossed in a tea bag. While I started with 2 cups of water, I ended up with a little over a cup and a half of tea at the end.
I ended up with a cup of tea that is better than the English breakfast tea alone. I know Victoria is known for having a sweet tooth, so she would most certainly have added sugar to her tea, and probably milk as well. I decided to toss a framed piece of lace in the picture since queen Victoria liked lace, and the lace used in her days was all made by hand. The "Victoria" series from the BBC that is shown on PBS is really popular among the bobbin lace circles because the costumes have some really nice examples of bobbin lace. I found this particular piece of lace already framed at a thrift store. On the back it says that it is hand made lace purchased in Bruges. Since I make lace, I knew right away that this is not made by hand (and added an additional note on the back of the lace stating I am a lace maker, and this is categorically not hand made). It is however, a nice looking piece of lace, and I probably paid all of a quarter for it.
I''m sure that whatever Victoria's favorite tea blend was, it was made with better quality tea than what I was using. I got this idea for a post from a birthday present from my sister. She sent me a gift card to my favorite tea shop. While I haven't made the trip to spend the gift card yet, I look at it often, and enjoy spending time flipping through the tea shop's book of offerings and fantasizing about what I want to get. While I don't currently plan on buying the queen's blend, I do have my eye on a Chinese black tea that is good for gongfu brewing. Along with my usual need for Kenyan black tea and more ginger pu-erh. Anticipation is definitely part of the enjoyment.
Interesting that you felt compelled to put a new note on the lace even though it's yours.
ReplyDeleteI figured I won't keep it forever, and I wanted to set the record straight. It's easier to remember to put the note on it sooner rather than later.
Delete