Tea for 8000 and for more

Every drink has its history but hardly any as old and revered one as His Excellency Tea. To be a tea aficionado is a matter of taste, but even the least enthusiastic beverage drinker can't deny that it is tea that bears this appellation rightfully.

The noble lineage of tea begins with the Chinese Emperors. Legend has it that four thousand years ago the Emperor Nun Shen was kneeling beside a fire to boil and purify his drinking water. A gust of wind blew some tiny young leaves off a nearby tree into the boiling pot, and after tasting the liquid Shen proclaimed it to be both delicious and invigorating. Those leaves happened to be tea leaves.

It took a while for tea to firmly establish its position in the diet of the European nobility, the first being the Russian Czar at the beginning of the 17th century, when the Chinese Emperor presented him with a gift of tea. In 1610 Dutch traders introduced tea leaves to Western Europe, along with such luxury goods as silk and spices. In France tea arrived in 1636 and quickly gained popularity with the upper classes, amidst which we may mention Racine and Cardinal Mazarin who drank it to treat his gout.

To the British tea became known after the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza, a future consort of Charles II, brought as dowager Bombay and the custom of drinking tea. Queen Victoria in 1860 popularised tea as the beverage of royalty. Our reigning Queen Elisabeth II has established a tradition of hosting an annual tea party held for three afternoons at Buckingham Palace and attended by eight thousand guests. In the Royal Garden a four-hundred-and-eight-foot long buffet table is elegantly served with tea and scones and other delicacies. Royal family usually stay with the guests between 4 and 6 o'clock and on their departure God save the Queen is played indicating the end of the party. The dress code is smart casual allowing the guests to enjoy a pleasant and relaxing afternoon.

Tea and the atmosphere of tea drinking is not only the prerogative of the dignitory; they give us, hard working people, a unique opportunity to escape our daily drudge and to come back to the traditional values of quality, of natural, sometimes forgotten, taste, to the warmth of unassuming, friendly talk. In our age of mass production it may be hard to find and costly to buy a high quality tea, but the pain of research is worth it. In fact, one does not have to go far. Tea Blossoms tea company is happy to share their enthusiasm and product with discerning tea drinkers. The range of their products spans from

to to (a few products from the range) and each is better than the other.

Drink it, enjoy it, infuseyourself with the sun and mystique of tea and feel at the royal top!