The Story Behind our Floral Mother's Day Gifts
The tradition of giving flowers on Mother's Day in the UK dates far back in history. In the sixteenth century, young domestic workers living away from home were given this day off to spend time with their families and on the way home, they would pick up wild flowers to give as a gift. It is believed that springtime and flowers are more generally connected with mothers by their shared representation of life and fertility.
Mother’s Day in the UK falls during the first days of spring, typically when daffodils and the first blooms begin to bring light and colour to the season. As the ritual of giving flowers on Mother’s Day continues to thrive today, we have curated a selection of our teas that have been 'touched' by flowers to create their unique flavour and aroma for a beautiful Mother’s Day gift set.
Earl Grey
S I N G L E O R I G I N B L A C K T E A
Invigorating Ceylon from Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, lifted by fresh and exuberant citrus.
Our Earl Grey is masterfully blended to ensure the perfect balance of flavour. Designed to complement and not overwhelm, a touch of natural bergamot extract tempers the inherent richness of the tea for supreme texture and flavour. Bergamot is a citrus fruit, native to South East Asia and now most prominently grown in Calabria, Southern Italy. When blended with black tea, high quality bergamot oil delivers a refreshing, citrus lift to the infusion.
Whilst the bergamot plant produces a beautiful spring blossom, it is not these flowers that connect this tea to our floral selection. Instead, the connection is with the delicate blue cornflower petals that are scattered among the black tea leaves. Although these don't impart flavour, they engage the eyes and remind us of the history of this traditional English tea. It is believed that when Earl Grey was first sold in the London tea auctions, tea merchants used a sprinkling of cornflower petals to highlight the highest quality Earl Grey teas.
Jasmine Silver Needle
S I N G L E G A R D E N W H I T E T E A
Serene with honeyed apple and intense jasmine scents from Yinpan Garden, Yunnan, China.
The jasmine flower needs no introduction. An iconic summer scent, both emotive and uplifting, this flower naturally imparts its delicate flavour to our hand-picked white tea buds to create our Jasmine Silver Needle tea.
In the spring, the tea buds are picked in Yunnan and processed into white tea. In July, when the jasmine blossoms in the neighbouring province of Guangxi, the white tea buds are gently laid on bamboo trays and covered with a layer of fresh jasmine buds. As dusk falls and the temperature drops, the jasmine buds slowly open and release their natural scent overnight. In the morning, the spent flowers are very carefully removed and the tea buds are left to air dry, having naturally absorbed the jasmine oil. This process is repeated for five consecutive nights until the tea buds are fully infused with the jasmine oil.
This is a pure and natural ancient method for scenting tea with jasmine and we have been working with the same tea master, Mr. Guo Ronglong, for ten seasons as he manages this intricate process and consistently achieves outstanding results.
Flowering Jasmine & Lily
F L O W E R I N G T E A
Sappy, spring-fresh green tea from Fujian, China, with sweet jasmine blossoms and soft lily petal musk.
To make Flowering Jasmine & Lily, we select the best single origin green tea from the spring crop and keep it in cold-store until the summer. The tea leaves are then hand-tied with natural flowers by skilled artisans.
A traditional way to present tea in both Yunnan and Fujian, flowering teas captivate drinkers as they unfurl and dance around the tea pot into an enchanting display of vibrantly coloured flowers. We recommend infusing flowering teas in our glass tea-ieres to fully enjoy this mesmerising experience.
