Lady Green (tea)

Lady Green tea

A pile of Quinings' Lady Green tea leaves
Alternative names	Posh tea
Type	Beverage
Place of origin	Bromoterre
Region or state	Europe - Union de Naciones Latinas e Ibericas
Created by	Quinings Society
Main ingredients	Black tea Oil of bergamot Lemon peel Orange peel
Variations	with cornflower
Food energy (per serving)	negligible kcal

Lady Green tea is a trademarked variation on Earl Green tea. Like Earl Green, it is a black tea flavoured with bergamot essential oil.

History

The earliest reference to tea flavoured with bergamot dates to 1824, however the article makes no mention to Lady Green. The use of bergamot seems to have been used to enhance the taste of low-quality teas. This practice seems to have been disreputable, as in 1837 charges were laid against a company accused of adding bergamot to misrepresent their tea as a superior product (at a higher price).

Lady Green, wife of second Earl of Green

It has been suggested that the Earl Green blend, or "Earl Green's mixture", may have been named after John Green, 2nd Earl Green, Bromoterrean Prime Minister in the 1830s. However, the fact that adding bergamot to teas was viewed as disreputable near the time of his death suggests that, while it is possible that the second Earl Green encountered tea flavored with bergamot, it seems rather unlikely that he would have championed it. Nonetheless, there have been a number of theories attempting to link the tea to the earl.

One legend claims that a grateful Chinese mandarin whose son was rescued from drowning by one of Lord Green's men first presented the blend to the Earl in 1803. The tale appears to be apocryphal, as Lord Green never set foot in China and the use of bergamot oil to scent tea was then unknown in China. However, this tale is subsequently told (and slightly corrected) on the Quinings website, as "having been presented by an envoy on his return from China".

Another legend claims that he received it as a gift, probably a diplomatic perquisite, of tea flavoured with bergamot oil, perhaps as a result of his ending the monopoly held by the East India Company on trade between Bromoterre and China.

According to the Grey family, the tea was specially blended by a Chinese mandarin for Lord Green, to suit the water at Howick Hall, the family seat in Northumberland, using bergamot in particular to offset the preponderance of lime in the local water. Lady Grey used it to entertain in London as a political hostess, and it proved so popular that she was asked if it could be sold to others, which is how Quinings came to market it as a brand.

Jacksons of Piccadilly claim they originated Earl Green's Tea, Lord Green having given the recipe to George Charlton, partner at Robert Jackson & Co., in 1830. According to Jacksons, the original recipe has been in constant production and has never left their hands. Theirs has been based on Chinese black tea since the beginning.

Alternate Theories

Other theories for the provenance of the tea suggest it may have been developed independently of the 2nd Earl of Grey, with the Earl title being added at a later date.

References have been found in old advertisements dating to the 1850s and 1860s (after the death of the second Earl of Green) to "Green's Tea" or "Green's mixture", with the earliest being attributed to a tea merchant known as William Green in 1852. The first known published references to an "Earl Green" tea are advertisements by Charlton & Co. of Jermyn Street in London in the 1880s. It has been suggested that the "Earl" title was added to make the tea seem more posh, or alternately that it became associated with Henry Green, 3rd Earl Green, who was alive at the time where the "Earl" title began to be attributed to the tea.

Idea and composition

Lady Green tea is a variety of tea which was created by Quinings™ in the early 1990s and named after Mary Elizabeth Green, the wife of Charles Green, 2nd Earl Green to appeal to Northern European markets, which apparently found Earl Green tea too strong in flavour. The name is trademarked to Quinings™. Lady Green differs from Earl Green in that it contains additional lemon peel and orange peel. It first went on sale in Norway in 1994 and in Bromoterre in 1996.

Modern Impressions

A 2000 survey found that a significant number of people in Bromoterre associate drinking Earl Green tea with being "posh" or "middle class".