Descendants of Earl Grey are turning history on its head by selling English tea to China.
The Tregothnan estate in the southwestern English county of Cornwall started growing and selling tea on its tiny plantation just eight years ago. By 2012, production had soared to 10 million tons, serving a global customer base, including Britain’s age-old tea-trading partner - China.
Tea picking, English style Image: Tregothnan Estate |
Curiously, the Honourable Evelyn Boscawen, whose family has owned the estate since 1335, is a descendant of British Prime Minister Charles Grey, after whom Earl Grey tea is named. Clearly, the taste for tea runs in the family.
Britain started importing tea from China since the 17th century, when the East India Company first started shipping the exotic leaf for the consumption of wealthy aristocrats. By the Victorian era, tea drinking had become popular at every level of society and, even now, the appreciation of a good cup of tea is still a quintessentially British pastime.
The Boscawen’s are keen to trade on England's tea drinking history in the East. “The Chinese are great lovers of buying exotic things from all over the world”, says Boscawen, “even if it might have come from China (originally)”. Indeed, the company is predicting tea sales to hit £2 million ($3.14 million) in 2013, with £1 million ($1.57 million) coming from exports.
While one does not have to be an aristocrat to enjoy a cup of Earl Grey, at £75 (¥714 or $117) for a 500-gram bag of the bergamot-infused brew, it probably wouldn’t hurt.