Earl Grey Reserve with Cornflowers Loose Leaf Black Tea

🍵 The Leaf — High-grown Ceylon black tea from Sri Lanka's finest trio of regions: Nuwara Eliya, Dimbula, and Uva, each chosen for its floral bouquet, brisk character, and bright clarity in the cup

🍵 The Colour — A vivid amber-copper liquor, clear and luminous, scattered through the dry leaf with striking blue cornflower petals that make this as beautiful to look at as it is to drink

🍵 The Aroma — Bergamot oil from the ancient citrus groves of Calabria, Italy, applied as pure oil rather than synthetic flavour crystals, releasing its fragrance long before the first sip reaches your lips

🍵 The Moment — Equally at home as an afternoon cup with milk, a slice of lemon, or brewed long over ice — a versatile, all-day loose leaf Earl Grey that suits the mood as much as the hour

Earl Grey Reserve with Cornflowers is a premium loose leaf Earl Grey tea built on a foundation that most blends never reach — high-grown Ceylon black tea sourced exclusively from three of Sri Lanka's most celebrated regions: Nuwara Eliya, Dimbula, and Uva. These highland districts, cultivated at altitude where cooler temperatures slow the growth of the leaf and concentrate its flavour, are famed for producing teas with a naturally floral bouquet, a lively briskness, and a clarity in the cup that lower-grown teas simply cannot replicate.

The name Earl Grey carries with it one of the great stories in tea history. During the 1830s, the blend is said to have come to Charles Grey, the British Prime Minister, by way of a diplomatic gift — a recipe using bergamot to soften the mineral quality of the water at his Northumberland estate. Whether the story is entirely true matters less than the result: a combination of black tea and citrus bergamot oil that became one of the most enduring and beloved blends in the world.

What makes this Reserve edition stand apart from the everyday is the quality of every element. The bergamot is Calabrian — from the small coastal region of southern Italy where the true bergamot citrus is grown, and where the oil pressed from its rind is recognised as the finest available. Rather than flavour crystals, which can degrade and lose their character over time, only pure bergamot oil is used here, which means the fragrance greets you the moment you open the tin and carries cleanly through every cup. Scattered through the leaves are blue cornflower petals, lending a natural elegance to the blend and a softness to the finished cup.

The result in the cup is a bright, amber-copper infusion with a beautifully balanced bergamot note — present and fragrant without ever tipping into sharpness — and the characteristic briskness of fine Ceylon tea underpinning everything. It is rich enough to take a little milk, lively enough to suit a wedge of lemon, and smooth enough to drink quietly on its own.

Since 2008, High Teas London has been one of the country's leading independent tea specialists, with a collection of over 350 teas and infusions carefully sourced from the world's finest gardens. An Earl Grey of this character belongs at the heart of any serious collection.

Ingredients: Black tea, cornflower petals, natural flavours.

Brewing Note: Use freshly drawn water brought to a full rolling boil and allow one heaped teaspoon of leaf per cup. Steep for three to four minutes — long enough for the bergamot to fully open and the Ceylon base to give its best, but not so long that any bitterness creeps in. This Earl Grey is versatile with milk, lemon, or entirely on its own; if you prefer it black, a slightly shorter steep of two and a half minutes keeps the cup bright and clean. For iced Earl Grey, brew at double strength with boiling water, then pour immediately over a generous amount of ice — the bergamot note holds remarkably well when chilled, and the result is one of the finest summer afternoon drinks there is.