Earl Grey with Cornflowers

Our Earl Grey with cornflowers was developed to be less pungent than traditional Earl Grey and is a delightful citrusy blend.

When we set out to produce our own version not only did we need to think about the blend of teas we used, the Bergamot Oil we apply and also a ‘finishing touch’ to separate this blend from our wonderful standard Earl Grey. The base blend for this tea, features teas from India, China and Sri Lanka and we have set the rough proportions as follows… China 40%, Darjeeling, 20%, Assam 20%, Ceylon 18% and Cornflower petals 2%, we use a different bergamot oil to add a more gentle profile to this extremely popular tea.

We decided to use blue cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus) because of their beautiful sparkling blue colour which contrasts delightfully with the teas. The Cornflowers we use today in this blend are from Iran and although Cornflowers do grow in the United Kingdom they are considered endangered and several conservation charities are working towards repopulating the UK with Cornflower. The sad fact is that in the last 50 years, Cornflowers have declined in number from 264 recorded planted sites to just three. In Ireland cornflowers are recorded as very rare and almost extinct. The blue colour has often been associated with love in common folklore and it is said that Cornflowers were worn by young suitors, if the flowers colour faded then that was taken as a sign that the suitors love was unrequited. Cornflower blue was also a favourite colour of the Dutch artist Vermeer.

As you can see we have given a lot of thought to our Earl Grey with Cornflowers and we hope that you enjoy the fruits of our labour.

Ingredients: Black Tea, Cornflower Petals (2%), Bergamot Oil.