Bergamot and cornflower dreams

Autumn sunshine on the lawn

As avid tea drinkers we enjoy a pot of loose leaf black tea when the time demands it and the time demands it quite frequently at Towerwater. Some years ago, I had special teas mixed as a birthday present for Keith that represented the four seasons. It was the Autumn-blend that we enjoyed the most and this mix has become one of the standard teas at Towerwater. The Towerwater Autumn-blend is a mixture of Pavane Orange Pekoe and Java OP Malabar.

Earl Grey French Blue tea

One of the few flavoured teas that we enjoy is Earl Grey tea that has been flavoured with oil of Bergamot. We have had quite a variety of this tea in the past. Among which has been Earl Grey with rose petals, French Earl Grey with lavender, as well as the traditional Earl Grey.

Unsealing the tin

I always thought that Earl Grey was flavoured with the Bergamot herb (Monarda didyma) and wanted to introduce it to the herb garden. After further research, I discovered that Earl grey tea is actually flavoured with the Bergamot orange (Citrus bergamia) oil.

A pot of fragrant Earl Grey in the afternoon on the lawn is a multi-sensory experience of tongue, nose and being.

Dry blue cornflower petals

Friends brought us a tin of Mariage Freres Earl Grey French Blue tea from Paris with their last visit. Opening the black tin, the aroma and the colour of the tea made for a heady experience. The familiar Bergamot fragrance fused with the sweet-scented hint of cornflower. The bright blue of the dried cornflower petals brightened the black tea leaves in the tin.

I imagined that the aroma of the tea was what an orchard of Bergamot oranges on a carpet of cornflowers must smell like near Bergamo in Lombardy.

On warm days we can enjoy this heavenly tea looking up at the cornflower blue African sky and then closing our eyes, enjoy our Bergamot infused day dreams.