May I present two genteel guests to the party: Earl and Lady Grey. Although the Earl is often sighted on his own, the Lady Grey has been growing in public affection in recent years. They are not just tea. They are gentili-tea personified.
Sunday mornings in my teens: rest of the family would go off to mini rugby, often enough. I would get up late, after washing dishes at a hotel on a Saturday night.
I would have brunch. I would watch some Saturday night TV recorded the night before. And I would brew a small pot of Earl Grey to have with my food.
The aroma of Earl Grey brings back those Sundays. The house to myself. Time to rest. Time to relax. Time to have exactly what I wanted to eat and drink – not that I was generally made to have things I didn’t want, but being able to choose them for myself, and make them for myself.
My dad thinks of Earl Grey as ‘smelly tea’. It’s the bergamot, the floral oil that is part of the scent and taste of the tea.
He for his part drinks Lapsang Souchong on occasion, which is more like the Ardbeg of the tea world – tarry, somewhat medicinal. On my Sundays, I could drink my tea without comment – and with enjoyment.
One of my former colleagues would proudly tell you that she had gone through something like 20 years where, every day, she would start the day with a cup of Earl Grey. I learned this on a work trip where we met at the breakfast table. Thankfully, that trip, she was able to continue her tradition.
I don’t need to do the same, but I understand where she’s coming from. It is good to have something to savour, something that tastes ‘fine’ in the best sense, something that feels rather like a treat in itself.
Part of the process of marriage is gradual indoctrination in each other’s ways – ideally, where each appreciates the other’s tastes. Dan resisted Earl Grey for quite a while, but has now taken to it too. It’s often at the weekend, mid afternoon, where Earl Grey is requested – perhaps more than regular tea is requested.
In fact, what may be requested is ‘Earl Grey tea hat’. This is not a costume you must slip into, in order to sip your tea, but a rendering of ‘Earl Grey tea: hot‘, a reasonably regular request from Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek, to those unfamiliar) to the ship’s replicator (think of a vending machine that will make you anything you want to eat or drink).
The reason it’s ‘hat’ is the Americanised pronunciation of ‘hot’. I don’t know whether M. Picard has a particularly Americanised accent or whether it’s the replicator that speaks back to confirm the order? It seems rather strange to relate it, given that the actor is as British as they come, and a notable performer of Shakespeare too.
It does reflect that gulf between the Englishes spoken on either side of the Atlantic. In the UK, stating that tea needs to be served hot can seem odd, if not ludicrous: ‘well of course you serve it hot, you make it with boiling water…’ In the US, land of the iced tea (particularly in the south), tea is taken to be cold, unless stated otherwise.
In fact, the indoctrination effect has gone a stage further, so that Dan’s mum now drinks Earl Grey too, having previously found it too ‘floral’. And you should know that, if you are choosing to go a decaffeinated route, decaf Earl Grey allows you to have a lighter drink while still letting it taste of something.
Whither Lady Grey, then? My Italian former flatmate started me on this. Lady Grey is lighter in taste than Earl Grey. It has something of the bergamot, but more citrus too. It’s slightly fruitier, paler in colour, and particularly refreshing. In some ways, it’s a step towards the warmth factor of chai, that spiced tea beloved of those who want something particularly comforting.
I rather like having both available in the house. I sometimes go for Lady Grey if I want a gentler drink – a touch of caffeine without the no nonsense taste of a regular tea. It adds variety, and it evokes a different mood.
I have yet to go to the home of the original Earl Grey – keep meaning to do so if we’re in Northumbria. I gather the tea room is rather wonderful – it would have to be, really, wouldn’t it? I seem to remember something about lots of different tea pots. And the house is no doubt lovely too.
That’s the thing with tea. It can be a pit stop, a moment to lift the head, a point to remember people, places. And when one is in such fine company, as with an Earl and a Lady, it also offers elegance, taste – and delight.
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