The United States has never been widely known as a major tea-consuming or tea-producing nation, although we do have our own domestic tea estate—South Carolina’s Charleston Tea Plantation, a rare example of tea cultivation in the United States. In the United Kingdom, tea consumption is famously high, though large-scale tea production has historically been limited. One notable exception is Tregothnan Estate in Cornwall, an English tea-growing estate.
An interesting aspect of Tregothnan that has attracted recent attention is that its owners are descendants of former British Prime Minister Charles Grey—better known to tea drinkers as Earl Grey.
Adding to the story, Tregothnan has begun exporting its tea to one of the world’s largest tea-producing nations: China. Given the comparatively small production scale of the estate, this development has drawn considerable media attention.
For more details, see this Reuters report on British-grown tea being exported to China. For a visual look at the estate, don’t miss this Boston.com photo essay showing tea production at Tregothnan Estate.
In other Earl Grey-related news, fans of the blend may find Earl Grey tea varieties and product selections featuring this classic flavored black tea especially appealing.
A recent tasting covered by the Financial Times evaluated multiple versions of Earl Grey tea, including both bagged and loose-leaf varieties. You can read the results in this Financial Times article comparing different Earl Grey teas and selecting top picks.
Finally, for a more lighthearted take, consider this novelty Earl Grey-themed product inspired by Star Trek and Captain Picard’s famous tea order, which playfully references the character’s well-known phrase: “Tea, Earl Grey, hot.”
See more of William I. Lengeman’s articles in this collection of tea-related writing by the author.
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