Twining’s cup runs over

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This tea ambassador is living proof that the health drink adds zing to life.

WHEN you raise your cup with Stephen H.B. Twining, 10th generation of the famous tea family, Twinings of London, his chosen beverage is tea, of course.

And he drinks 15 cups a day!

Isn’t that too much tea? What about the Chinese old wives’ tale that too much tea can cause rheumatism?

Well, Twining replies: “Tea affects different people in different ways. The recommended amount is three to four cups a day. I choose to drink more because I love the taste.”

Royal blends: Earl Grey Tea and Lady Grey Tea are popular tea blends of Twinings.

Twining, 48, is director of corporate relations of Twinings, a marketer of tea based in Andover, Hampshire, England. He was recently in Malaysia as part of his South-East Asia tour. He joined Twinings in 1985 after a couple of years in the tea brokerage business.

Twinings of London, founded by Thomas Twining, has over 300 years of expertise in the tea trade.

In 1706, Twinings started selling fine teas in England and today, it sells 250 tea blends in 115 countries.

A cup of tea has less than half the caffeine of a cup of freshly brewed coffee. A rich source of antioxidants, tea is part of a healthy diet and lifestyle.

“Tea has less than one calorie per cup. Unless you drink really strong tea, three cups in half an hour, it’s not going to have a diuretic effect,” Twining explains.

Tea time: Stephen Twining sips different teas at different times of the day.

“Most tea rehydrates you. Of course, I drink some water but I get most of my water intake from tea.”

Coffee is a diuretic. Even a tea lover like Twining allows himself two cups of coffee a week.

“I like cappuccinos and the lattes,” smiles Twining.

So what’s his morning cuppa?

“What gets me out of bed (at 7am) is a good cup of English Breakfast tea because it’s hearty, strong and invigorating. I have that with my breakfast as well.”

Twining starts his standard day at the office at 8.30am with Ceylon Breakfast or Ceylon Orange Pekoe. He moves on to Darjeeling around 11am and at lunch (noon or 12.30pm), it’s Lady Grey or Earl Grey, depending on his mood.

In the afternoon, his choice of tea blend depends on how he is feeling, how the day is going, and the mood he is in.

At tea time, Twining’s choice depends on what food he’s eating. Or whether he needs “to relax or reinvigorate”.

If he wants to relax, he would pick Jasmine Green Tea which is “very soft and gentle” and English Breakfast, if he needs invigoration.

For refreshments, Jasmine Green Tea and Lady Grey are the picks.

Twining says: “English Breakfast is the first designer tea and goes very well with a slice of dark chocolate cake in the afternoon. Lady Grey has citrus elements with orange peel and lemon peel, so a turkey sandwich might be nice. With Earl Grey, it’s meringue or creme brulee.”

At 5pm, he leaves his office for a 10-minute drive to Salisbury, where he lives.

In the evening, Twining sips Green Tea and after dinner at 7.30pm or 8pm, he’ll want tea infusions such as Camomile or Peppermint. Or he may opt for Camomile or Jasmine Green Tea. Camomile, he says, is used to promote relaxation and restful sleep.

Of his tea drinking habits, Twining insists: “I’m not that different from my father (Sam Twining, the ninth-generation director of Twinings).”

He says that his dad is happily retired and wrote a book, My Cup Of Tea (published in 2002). “He’s busy as ever with various charities.”

The way he likes it

Twining drinks his tea without sugar. And sometimes with milk, especially English Breakfast and Ceylon tea.

“There’s no right or wrong way to drink tea. It’s your cup of tea and as long as you drink it and it brings you pleasure, then you’re enjoying your tea; that’s all that matters. When I drink tea, I drink it the way I like it,” explains Twining.

In his youth, he had heard people telling their friends: “No, you can’t put milk in your Earl Grey. It’s sour. That’s terrible.”

“That’s not right because you can put milk in Earl Grey,” says Twining, who often puts milk in his Earl Grey because he enjoys it that way.

Earl Grey, reputed to be the world’s most popular tea, has a distinctive flavour and aroma derived from oil extracted from the rind of the bergamot orange. Lady Grey tea is a delicate, fragrant variation of the Earl Grey blend. It consists of black tea scented with oil of bergamot, lemon peel and orange peel.

On the history of the famous blend, Twining said Earl Grey was named after Charles Grey, British prime minister in the 1830s.

“We had the honour of making the specific blend for him. Lady Grey was a marketing response to our customers who wanted a more delicate version of Earl Grey. So Lady Grey is a more gentle, rounded tea,” says Twining.

Twining has often been asked: How do you make a perfect cup of tea to get the best flavour?

“A good tea cup should be porcelain whereas the tea pot can be made of anything except aluminium. It can be glass, stainless steel, ceramic, earthenware or a handed down silver tea pot,” explains Twining.

Blending tea

“Blending tea is the heart of the Twinings business,” says Twining.

Darjeeling tea comes from Darjeeling (in West Bengal, India), a tea growing area with different gardens.

“Twinings doesn’t have a set formula for its Darjeeling tea. Tea changes its flavour with the weather, the same way wine changes its flavour from year to year. Wine drinkers get used to the fluctuations of flavours but not tea drinkers.

“We have to buy teas, mix and blend them together so that your cup of Darjeeling tea is always the same. It’s a huge skill. It takes five years to train tea tasters and they go on learning and become master tea tasters after over 20 years. If a particular tea blend doesn’t taste the same, it won’t be packed. It’s a complex business,” says Twining.

The tea company has 10 qualified tea tasters and a tea blend goes through six or seven rounds of tasting. A master tea taster is in charge of one major tea growing area like India or China.

Twining learnt tea tasting for two years to get a good working knowledge and understanding. An experienced broadcaster and spokesman, he travelled extensively throughout India and Sri Lanka where he experienced first hand the picking and buying of tea.

Tea tasters assess tea samples, buy and mix them.

“Twinings has 30,000 different teas which serve as ingredients for making 250 tea blends. It’s up to the skill of a tea taster to mix together the right proportions to recreate the taste, colour and how the tea feels in the mouth,” says Twining.

In Malaysia, Twinings has 15 blends and is looking into expanding.

“We have local teams supervising the business in Malaysia, besides distributors who handle delivery to stores,” he says.

“We’re researching what flavours Malaysians like and dislike, and hope to introduce new tea flavours next year,” Twining discloses.

Mango Strawberry Infusions is relatively new in Malaysia; it has been around for three to four years, he says.

Green Tea with Jasmine is one of the teas sold for many years and is a time-honoured tea.

Twinings’ bestsellers are Earl Grey and English Breakfast.

The Europeans, he cites, would also have fruit-flavoured teas – tea and fruits together instead of fruit infusions (without the tea) like Mango and Strawberry infusions.

Special blends

For the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, Twinings did a commemorative blend of white tea leaves with limited stocks for sale in England only. About 7,000 tins of 25 tea bags were produced (with royal approval) and were sold out.

“It’s a white, delicate and sophisticated tea with rose petals and oil of bergamot (which also goes into Earl Grey) to represent the joyous occasions,” explains Twining.

Next year, Twinings will have a commemorative tea blend to mark the Queen’s diamond jubilee.

“Malaysia has expressed interest in selling the blend,” he says.

Asked what tea the Queen likes, he says: “I’m not allowed to answer that question. We’ve the honour of supplying the royal household; therefore we’ve the royal warrant, that is, the coat of arms we put on our packs. With that comes the rulebook, and the first rule is confidentiality.”