Is there anything in the world better than snuggling up under a blanket with a good book and a cup of tea?
Right. I didn’t think so.
So when this tea arrived for me to sample on the SAME day as my copy of the new book, Heartless, by Marissa Meyer (a reimagined origin story for the Queen of Hearts from Carroll’s own Alice in Wonderland) I knew they had to be paired together.
Now, I’m going to be honest– I’ve never read Lewis Carroll’s original Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (GASP).
But I am familiar with the movie, and any story centered around a tea party is a-okay with me. I do, however, know that no matter what– if there are any ties to Wonderland, there needs to be some whimsy. And both this tea and the book deliver on all accounts!
This delightful blend from my beloved Simpson & Vail elevated your traditional black tea with bright, floral notes and a little ethereal sweetness. The perfect cup to sip while reading all about Lady Catherine’s (that’s our Queen of Hearts, in her pre-royalty days) journey from young and in love to cold, calculating and off-with-their-heads-ing all around Wonderland.
I preferred this tea with milk and a touch of sweet– and if I’d had my way, I’d have had the Hatter outfit me with some fanciful millinery for my own little tea party. Maybe on my next trip down the rabbit hole!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Description:
The man who would become Lewis Carroll was born as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in January 1832. He spent his happy childhood under the tutelage of his Reverend father, and enjoyed creating fantastical stories for his ten siblings. It was not until after he had graduated university and became a lecturer of mathematics that he met Alice Liddell. He would entertain her and her sisters with the absurd stories that he later published as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. His most famous novels conveyed a childlike look at the seemingly arbitrary rules and customs of adult society.
A tea party plays a memorable role in Carroll’s most celebrated novel as the setting for Alice’s nonsensical meeting with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. “A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden” where, as the Mad Hatter told Alice earlier, “it’s always tea time.” To make our Lewis Carroll blend, we added our fragrant violet flavor to an Indian Black tea and Rose Congou tea, a China black that has been scented with rose petals during the drying process, to create a deep amber cup with an incomparable bouquet and a flavor that is absolutely heavenly.
Ingredients: Black Tea, Rose Congou tea, flavoring, malva flowers.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
