Tuesday, November 17

Tea Things Tuesday: Whittard of Chelsea

A Whittard of Chelsea metal tea caddy
from around 2005, a thrift shop find.

To avoid camera flash reflection, I scanned
it with a curtain bunched around it, but a
swatch of chintz would've worked as well.

The label on the other side said it originally held
Darjeeling - "the champagne of teas" - but
looks much like the label below at Tomokilog,
a Japanese blog which incorrectly identifies
Whittard's Summer leaf tea as Earl Grey.
The author was obviously not a tea drinker!


These caddies are a wonderful reminder of a
visit to Whittard in Buckingham Palace Road,
opposite the Royal Mews (the royal garage).
The gold State Coach, btw, is fabulous!

But back to Whittard's...


Here's a link to a map of the area, and below the map,
a nifty rotating cam of Buck Palace Road on a sunny day.
The trees at one end are part of St. James's Park, and
at the other end, under the trees at the left of the large
white building, a pocket park handy for enjoying a bag
lunch from Pret A Manger in Victoria Station.
On the other side of the wrought iron fence and
gate between the pillars is the Royal Mews.

But I digress (again)...

In 1886, Walter Whittard ("whi TARD") opened a small
tea emporium in Fleet Street in the City of London, but
soon expanded its stock to include coffee. "Of Chelsea"
was added when the original shop moved to Kings
Road in the borough of that name. Whittard of
Chelsea now has stores all over the world.

In 1976, a non-tea drinker named Giles Hilton
was hired as the accountant-bookkeeper. Soon he
discovered he did like tea - very much, in fact - and
after a 5-year apprenticeship, became Whittard's chief
buyer-blender, prompting the nickname "The Nose".
Today Giles is essentially the face of Whittard's.

Quite a personable chap to boot, as you'll see (plus
many tips on choosing tea) in the following videos :






And here's a Day with Giles in London:




Last but not least, a tea estate in Darjeeling, India,
showing what happens to tea between the field and
your teapot. (The music is mesmerizing, but "wobbly".)





A few links you might find interesting:
Whittard of Chelsea's homepage

The history of Whittard of Chelsea

Giles Hilton, Whittard's "Guru"


Tea Things Tuesday is hosted by the
Lovely Kim at Shabby Pink and Pretty,
where you can check out other TTT entries.

Happy Tea Time!

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

20 comments:

Duchess of Tea said...

Helle darling, I am delighted to hear from you. Luv thank you for your kind words, you are such a good friend and one that I have dearly missed of late. What an informative tea post, thanks for sharing.

As for the different tea clubs, you can join as many as you want and simply post just one post, you don't need to do one for each club. As long as it is a tea related post, you can use to to join the others. Simply mention all the clubs you have joined on your post.

I just posted one with all three clubs, look into it if you are interested.

Love & Hugs
Duchess

JamaGenie said...

Duchess, how nice to see your lovely countenance again!

As for multiple tea clubs, I may just do that - as long as nobdy minds! Thanks!

Jocelyn said...

Thanks for so much interesting information. I love tea, but there are so many to choose from nowadays ;-)

Jocelyn
http://justalittlesouthernhospitality.blogspot.com/

Nanette said...

Hi Jama,
Very nice post. The videos were interesting. Happy Tea Things Tuesday!
Valerie

Mary said...

What a wonderful post! I had no idea there were videos on tea...just wonderful...I'm going to learn so much that I didn't know...and to think that I knew it all! So nice to meet another tea lover...I don't know how the world got along without tea!

God bless,
Mary

Kim said...

Great post again today. I'm learning so many new things about tea and England too from your very educational posts. I think if I ever get the money to take a trip to England someday, I should have you come along as my chaperone. Would'nt t be fun if all of us tea loving bloggers could plan a tea trip someday? Definately something to think about.

JamaGenie said...

Kim, I'm sure tea room tours are already on offer for the general public. But a tour specifically for tea bloggers - what a marvelous idea! Most definitely something to think about!

Emily said...

How neat that you may have the same embroidery pattern! I love tea tins. They are so pretty.

Wanda Lee said...

Thank you so much for stopping by To The Plumed Pen blog to take a "cyber cup of tea" with us! I love what The Duchess says in her comment to you; what a precious lady!

I believe she shows the epitome of graciousness,in all that she does!~ She is very generous in expressing her sentiment; which is that you can post something tea for instance, and then attend all three "blogging Tea" events.

Her suugestion is very welcoming and warm to all of her dear friends! So that by actively participating with support and lovely comments, as well as kindly mentioning, in this instance; all three "cyber Tea parties", in her lovely tea post, she shows a very definate warmth to all! And really ~ why not?

I see her as expressing a gracenote of lovliness and graciousness amongst us, really in who she is; what an exqisite blog she has; I adore her as well as her lovely blog!

I adore your post this week and I found it so very intersesting as well! I will definately be back my dear lady!

Please do feel most welcome to also join us for "Tuesday Tea for Two", a well as to also partake with your other delightful "tea" and blogging friends, as did the Duchess!

~It would be wonderful to have you also join us next week as you mentioned in your comment. So glad you enjoyed your time with us, this week and that you visited us also in our little corner of the blogging world!

What "a truly refreshing idea"; kind of like a delightfully soothing and uplifting, fine china teacup, just brimming with "steaming and fragrant goodness",my dear!..,

Cheers and warm wishes, God bless, Silken Purse

Beth Niquette said...

How perfectly wonderful! I LOVE this post!

You have snow already? Oh, I am envious. (Grin)

Anonymous said...

It was very interesting for me to read that blog. Thanx for it. I like such themes and everything that is connected to this matter. I would like to read more soon.

Blogaire said...

I loved your post as I have just discovered a Tea Shop here in Dublin which sells tea from all over the world. I will make sure to look out for TEA THINGS TUESDAY from now on - what a great idea.

GYPSYWOMAN said...

what a wonderful post! i'm a tea lover too and learning more about it all was a special treat - beautiful post, truly! there is just something about having a cup of hot tea that doesn't compare to anything else, i think - no matter how bad the day, sitting with a little cup of these divine little leaves makes everything all right with the world! again, great post!

Maria said...

I love tea!!

Bella Foxx said...

Hi! Thanks for stopping by my blog, I too love tea. I drink PG Tips, Tazo Wild Sweet Orange (got hooked on that when I had a cold/sore throat) and what ever brand of Chai I can find.

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

Bonjour! Thank you for visiting my blog! And yes, you are right; one must at least try their ideas to see if it will work! I actually haven't finished my boudoir; I intend to add some sanding technique around the edges and then rub a gold wax in the crevices to see if I can get that "Shabby" look that I saw in my dream! Thanks for the encouragement. I love your tea post! I am an avid tea drinker and my favorite at the moment is a London Fog with double bergomot. YUM! Have a great Pink Saturday! Anita

koralee said...

Oh I love your blog and this post is amazing. I am such a tea granny...what would we do with out it??? Thank you for visiting me and leaving a lovely comment. Happy weekend to you.

Herstoryan said...

I love your blog. I nominated you for a Kreativ Blogger award. You can pick it up here: http://herstoryan.blogspot.com/2009/11/kreativ-blogger-award.html

tomoki y. said...

Hi. I'm tomoki y., the author of tomokilog. Many thanks for mentioning my blog.

Let me clarify myself. I am NOT the person that composed those descriptions in Japanese, from which you quoted "Earl Grey" as my misidentification for Summer leaf tea.

You may not have understood the purpose of that particular series of blog entries of mine, but they are a sort of artworks juxtaposing words and images that are either relevant, somewhat relevant or totally irrelevant to each other.

I copied verbatim what is printed on the label of a Whittard tea can, but the photograph of the tea can comes from a separate source.

I am a tea drinker and I like Earl Grey, although Whittard is not my most favourite bland.

tomoki y. said...

Correction: bland >>> brand

This misspelling was not intentional. Nor had it anything to do with my artworks. This confusion of Ls and Rs is most typical of a Japanese person speaking or writing English. ;-)

tomoki y.