'There's no place for snobbery in tea'

With Stephen Twining’s India visit came to the country a tea heritage of ten whole generations and a tea tasting session that made for a pleasant afternoon.

Predictably enough, the session began with delving into the history of ‘Twinings’, its founder Thomas Twining and the English tradition of tea. Following this was a tea tasting session with food pairings.

While there were some like the Darjeeling tea that was for connoisseurs, classics like Earl Grey and flavoured ones like Lemon tea with both Assam and Green variations were served.

Each of the teas was accompanied by a small talk on its tasting notes by master blender Georgina Durnford. A hit amongst the audience was the classic Earl Grey that was first concocted Queen Victoria and the English Breakfast Tea.

Stephen himself admits that he starts his day with a cup of English Breakfast and prefers green tea, either plain or with lemon, in Bangalore’s summer. He doesn’t remember his first cup or sip of tea as an occasion but looks back fondly at growing up in a household full of tea. “I don’t remember my first cup.

Drinking tea wasn’t quite an occasion in our household as we were a family who had everything to do with tea,” says Stephen. “What I do remember is giving my classmates a tea tasting session at the age of eight. I realised how little everybody else knew about tea then,” he adds.

He holds his tea close and explains what makes tea a personal drink in comparison to other drinks. “Tea is personal as you have more options. You choose your own intensity,” he says. “Just like wine, there are many tea snobs who like to define how a certain tea must be had. Everybody knows how to drink their cup of tea. There is no place for snobbery in tea,” he adds.

In his first visit to the country, he intends to taste a cup of authentic Indian tea and says his intention in the Indian market is not to take the local flavour away but to add to options for tea drinkers. “We can’t make people stop drinking masala tea. We can only add to that,” he says. Talking about future plans, he says that this time next year, the Twinings will urge five star hotels in the country to start tea bars and partner with them.