A taste of Twinings

My first taste of Twinings was when I moved to London (oh, a lifetime ago) to study – and I was introduced to Earl Grey. It was love at first sip. All my life I had drunk only milky chai – oh, I have nothing against it, I love it – and tea bags were still in the realm of fancy-but-why. The only redeeming thing about them was the catch ditty – dip, dip, dip… add some sugar… and milk… and you’re ready to sip. Do you want it stronger? Dip a little longer… And if you remember this and hummed as you read it, then welcome to the old people’s club. Anyway, so. Maybe I was just used to strong, brewed tea or that tea bag and milk don’t go together, but for whatever reason, they were not my thing till the Earl Grey experience. And now of course, I have a colourful collection of familiar and exotic teas from mint to orange blossom via apple and peppermint – something for all moods and occasions.

So when I got invited for the Twinings event in Bangalore, I was quite happy to go – I could think of nothing better to do on a Friday afternoon than taste teas accompanied by the right munchies. Oh yes, it is possible to pair teas with food, much like wine! Twinings has targeted India as one of its growth market in the next five years and Stephen Twining from the tenth generation of the family spoke with much passion about tea. Guided by their tea taster Georgina Durnford (who has spent years training her nose and palate to analyze and grade tea), we went through Earl Grey, English Breakfast and if I remember right, Peppermint (one of my all time favourites). And quite an elaborate ceremony it was – inhale the aroma, sip and swirl – all the drama of wine tasting.

[photographs by my super-talented photographer friend Madhu Reddy]

It’s interesting times ahead – I believe that India is inherently a chai country, the ever-expanding Cafe Coffee Days and the imminent entry of Starbucks notwithstanding. There are a lot of tea cafes that have opened across the country, and now with a brand like Twinings set to push their brand and various new flavours in the market, will coffee drinking Indians move back to tea? Or will the chai drinkers develop a taste for tea?

Also read: ‘Tis time for tea…

‘Tis time for tea

We had a kettle; we let it leak:
Our not repairing made it worse.
We haven’t had any tea for a week…
The bottom is out of the Universe.
~Rudyard Kipling

I came across this piece this morning on tea cultures of the world – via Travels in the Riel World. A lovely post on six different cultures based on their tea habits.

I would add to this list, cay from Turkey, especially apple tea – the perfect any-time drink. I became an honorary Turk in the course of my short visit to that country last year, drinking several cups through the day with the best of them…

Which brings me to the question – is India a tea culture? I read somewhere that India produces and consumes more tea than any other country in the world. We drink cup after cup of chai everyday, most of it with milk and sugar and some with added condiments like adrak (ginger) and elaichi (cardamom). Tea, or chai is the drink of the people in India, adda (gossip sessions) in India is always over tea. Tea has a much longer history in India than coffee – some even believe that the Sanjeevani plant that Hanuman flew across the ocean to carry back was a variety of tea plant!

Yet, there are so few good tea shops, leaving aside the street vendors (who some may argue, and I agree, make the best tea). It is the coffee shops that are popular – from the soulless Baristas and Costa Coffees to the more homey brews of filter kapi at South Indian joints across the country…

I am not a chai lover myself, the way say, Annie is.

For, chai needs to be loved just for itself.
Not because it is fragrant, flavoured, exotic, from new trees or old.
Not because it can bring you relief, respite, anti-oxidants.
Not because it is strong, or mild, or just right, or vaccum-sealed.
Just because it is chai and chai is good (unless it has been treated badly).

I am mostly a filter kapi person but I do love that cuppa with ginger, especially when it is raining outside and I am inside, cozy and warm, watching it through the windows. And I have been keeping my eyes and ears open for good tea places.

I first came across TeaPot on Anita’s blog and I knew I had to go there while in Fort Kochi…

In a quiet side-street of Fort Kochi, TeaPot is the perfect place to sit quietly for hours with a book or just staring out into space…

The main room is filled with tea knick-knacks – hundreds of teapots, tea strainers, sketches on the walls… Old tea chests serve as tables, their open surface bearing the stencil mark Produce of India…

As soon as you enter, you are greeted by this large table, the base made from a tea bush…

At TeaPot, even the clocks tell T time…

The TeaPot is on PeterCelli Street and serves snacks and coffee, apart from a variety of teas. Drop by if you are ever in that part of the world. And if you are not that much of a tea-lover, still go there to look at the shiny kettles and pots and sample their appams as you sip on coffee.