TWININGS TEA

And so when I would go stay with my grandma, and I stayed with her all summer long my whole life growing up, we would have a ritual of she would brew tea and she would actually boil the water on the stove, and she had the little uh screen and she would put the tea leaves in and she would make me a proper cup of tea. And so, while the rest of my family became coffee drinkers, my mom and dad drank copious amounts of nasty black coffee,

I became a tea drinker. And so I am so honored to be able to sit here with Stephen Twining, who is from the Twining family Twinings of London, which is the best tea I've ever had in my entire life. And how many years has the Twinings of London tea been creating delightful tease for people? So it all goes back to Thomas Twining, who board a coffee house Shark Horror in seventeen o six and in London at the time there were over two thousand coffee houses. Obviously London

was a much smaller place. So to differentiate, to offer something different to attract people to his coffee has, he chose to sell fine quality tea, and very quickly the tea took over seventeen what zero six, seventeen o six before America was founded, when we were fighting with y'all before evening that's right, aids Wow. So how many generations back is that from you? Ten ten generations back? So I'm not even going to go through the great great

great great great great granddads, just ten generations back. And has the Twining tea business always like stayed within the family. Was there ever a generation that said we don't like tea, We're going to go become Starbucks or something. I know that lots of Twinings have gone off and done other things because the family tradition, which was actually started by

the the second and third generation of the family. So Thomas' son Daniel, just imagine that his oldest son would have exactly the same passion that he did inherit it from Thomas the founder and brought him into the business. And Daniel's oldest son had no affinity but he hated it, really couldn't wait to get out of it. And Daniel was smart enough to say, actually, so off you go, go and do something that fulfills you that you're going to be good at. And he became a very good

ecclesiastical scholar, which is very different from tea. But his younger brother couldn't wait to be in the business. And the fact his older brother was out of the way, obviously Ethor was great and came in at the first volunteer, so from then on the next generation volunteer. So that's really quite amazing remarkable for that time frame, because when even today, when a father has a successful business, he assumes that his children are going to follow in their footsteps.

Oftentimes there's a little um business in my hometown that is Smith and Daughters. Because his sons had no interest in the building process of building houses, but his daughter, his two daughters did and so instead of smith and sons, it's smith and daughters. He had the wisdom to realize, as your great great grandfather, I'm teen times removed in

that it's passion, not simply position. Yes, absolutely, twinings. We are so lucky that everyone who works for us has this passion for making great teath and that has got to be part of loss of sets. So it's in your DNA. You You, and how many siblings do you have? I have a big sister and little brother, but they're not in the business, not interested in tea. They drink a good quantity of tea, they don't have the same yes, the level of depth of knowledge or want to be

in the tea business. Now wow, Now, how many cups of tea a day do you think, Stephen, you consume? I say that anything less than nine is a wasted tea drinking day. I may have met my match then I love. I love tea, but I specifically love your tea. And um, a couple of years ago, you signed a tea box for me. And I'm not a I'm not the kind of person that really values material possessions. You know, most of my furnishing in my house come from second

hand stores. There's not a lot of things, physical things, material things that have any meaning for me. And I think part of that is my personality, and part of that is with so many kids, you can't get attached to material things because they get broken, they just get broken. Or as your older children leave, because I have several that have left, that your things walk with them. You know. I'll go into my son's house and go, wait a second, that's the bench tomorrow. I said this the other day.

I walked into my older son's house. He's got four children and a foster child right now, so hopefully we'll be five soon. Um, And I went, that's that's the bench to my piano. You know. When he left, the bench walked with him. Um. But my tea box that you signed is one of my prize possessions. And I go through a lot of twinings tea, I mean a lot.

I start my morning with your breakfast tea. Uh, and then four o'clock is my cut off for the black teas because you know, I have to sleep sometime, so after four or five o'clock when I'm doing my show at night, it's your herbal teas and you you sent some new herbal teas to my house the other day, the Lemon Lemon Light and the very Infusion, and the one that was the biggest surprise is the butter mint. It is a surprise, I think surprise a lot of people.

It surprised me, and I'll be honest with you, Um, mint tea is probably my least favorite, not that I don't like it, but you know, in the level of favorites, I always go for your orange or your black teas are just fabulous, and I make before the day starts, I have to have a cup of your breakfast tea.

But so when your butter mint arrived, I thought, well, this will go to my girlfriend Jan, because Jan runs my foundation or my ministry Point Hope, Um, and we work in West Africa and in West africause they're big tea drinkers, but we can't find twinings. They're not very often, you know, so whenever I go over, Jan always asked

me to bring her your mint tea. When this box right here of the herbal tea peppermint showed up in my house, I thought, well, this will be something I will read gift to Jan, but I had to try it because I knew we were going to get together and talk about it. Stephen. It's so good, thank you. It's just the right It's like the edges off the mint, because usually the mint has that little bite to it that's a little too much for me. Yeah, but the edges off the mint and it's just got this little

touch of sweetness that's wonderful. Thank you so much for those very very Kinton compliments. I mean, we are delighted with it because yes, mint is usually quite a popular flavor, but just offering a different type of mint really isn't again to excite people, and we want to do something completely different. So by adding the vanilla, uh, it changes the text in your mouth. It changes, it adds to

the peppermint and as you said, turns it down. It turns it also get this lovely creamy sensation, so it feels incredibly indulgent. Now, a cup of any herbal tea is less than five calories. So when I have it after dinner, because mint is meant to be good for you after dinner, uh, you're going to sleep because it's naturally caffeine free. But it feels like you're spoiling yourself

with this really indulgent treat. And it's there are a couple of young women in my life that are expecting and for them it is a godsend because the mint calms their stomach and calms them down, and it's such like you said, it's such an indulgent little treat, and so so thank you for that. Now you've got nine master blenders at Twinings, and are you one of the master blenders? I always reasonably modest. Therefore I say that I'm an honorary master blender. I certainly worked with them

over many many years. I do have a couple of blends out there that have been created by me, which I'm very proud of. Um. But most of the time I would leave the blending to the master blenders because I'm often lucky enough to be out and about s I m over here talking to you. So when you set upon deciding to create a blend of tea, do you actually go to the places the spices are from? Like? Do you go to where you get the peppermint? Do

you go to where the cinnamon sticks are raised? I have not been to all the places where the ingredients come from because they are worldwide. So in the Lemon Delight, we're talking just on the lemons, we're getting lemons from

Paraguay and from Senegal. Uh. Now I have been to Paraguay, but YESR master tea taster for the herbal teas will certainly get out and meet all the suppliers and once as much as he can about them and most of all about the taste when it's going to be perfect for harvesting, collecting, uh, and then he can use it. I love that. I love that your your hands on and your people are feet on the ground. And actually I raised almost all of our food for my family.

I have a fifty five acre farm and I have probably two or three hundred chickens, and my husband has an organic beef and pork farm. So we're kind of rabid about the things that go into our children's bodies and our bodies. I don't want my kids to be eating nasty things that's going to hurt them in the future. So when I started drinking Twinings tea long before you were part of my show, just because I love the

flavor of it. But then as I've grown to to learn about the integrity of your company and the family history and the quality of the ingredients. I just fell more and more and more in love with the products. So thank you, thank you. It's the way we like to do business. We think it's the right way. It is the right way to do business. Family and friends and goodness and and honoring the ingredients. I love it all. So tell me about this building. There's a building that

you're grandfather ten times back started in. And is it true that you still have that building today? We still have that building today. The coffee has got converted to what is now the office. But what Thomas did because in the early days in London it was the wealthy and aristocratic ladies who were his customers for tea, and a lady would never go into a coffee house. It was just socially taboo. So he realized that the services best customers, he needed to open a dry tea and

coffee shop. So over eleven years he bought three very small neighboring properties, knocked at the end wall, put an address on the London Strand to post away his coffee has been in Devereux Court, and opened the world's first dry tea and coffee shop, which we absolutely still have to this day. So celebrating three birthday this year, Oh, I need to come to a birthday celebration there, I

think anytime. I would love that. It's funny because I started I I consider myself a world traveler now, but the only place I've ever traveled in the world is West Africa. And I always imagined that I would someday get to go to London, and I've never I've never been. Let me know we have, So we'll go for for a tea excursion. All right, what are some of your favorite blends? But I know the Butterment, the Limon Delight,

the very Fusion, or the new ones. But what are some of your will fall back like favorite when you just go, oh, I've had it. I just I want a cup of the perfect tea right now. Yes, so the first thing in the morning, like yourself, I'm going to reach for that English breakfast is just the right way to take. And every cup is so perfect, every cup, every cup is like a little a little dose of happiness in my morning. It's all that. And to the

skill of our master tea tastes. Because as I'm sure you know, let's make a comparison, tea is like wine, and if you're a wine drinker, you go back to the saving vineyard every year. As the weather changes from year to year, the wine that the vineyard produces changes. Now tea has picked every ten to fourteen days. Every time the weather changes, the flavor from an individual tea

garden is different to the time before. So our master tea tastes are always looking for different ingredients to make your cup of English breakfast always taste exactly the same, and that is the skill. Well. It always tastes like heaven to me. Thank you, And I love raw honey. My husband has honeybees, oh wow, and so we harvest honey and he knows just the right amount of honey because I don't like a lot of it. I don't

like it to be overpowering. But just a smidgen of honey in the English breakfast tea is the perfect start to my day. Excellent, perfect start to day. I relate to this so well. I could I could work for Twine Tea I loved. Then you would have to do my radio show. That wouldn't be so good for your listeners, really, because I think they'd love your delightful accent. Well, that's very kind. They might last for five minutes. Really, I

think you'll be a short honeymoon period. Do you do you know, like all the lyrics to a thousand love songs love songs. Yeah, that wouldn't work very well then, because when somebody calls and they're just falling in love for the first time, you have to know the perfect song that goes with that. Or if they've passed that first falling in love and now they've got something sparkly in their pocket that they want to share with their beloved, you've got to know the perfect song to play. I

can match it to a t but not to a song. Yeah, well we could work together here and after I played you know, the Marrimi song, you could suggest what cup of tea they could celebrate the engagement with. I think engagement would be something like a lady gray, which is a lighted old right, and we've just added to our old gray collections that we could go with a lavender, which is a little blue, and we're thinking, yeah, it's gorgeous, but actually the lady gray with the citrus elements a

little lighter, good for guys but great for girls. There we go so the engagement would see how this work. Or if somebody calls me and just found out she's expecting, all right, then we're probably not going to have a tea at all, because I think it would probably be the Buttom, and there are some of the some of the herbal teas that you should avoid when you're pregnant. But I'm not a doctor, so consult your doctor on that. But yes, I would have thought that would go perfectly well.

That might be the one that I've suggested to the people that I know in that condition, because mint is so calming, so calming. So there's see, we could we could have a whole new show here where we do the dedication with the song, and then you could come in each night to the studio and suggest the tea that would go in and make it for you, of course, and make it for us perfect, perfect, because there is like a whole tradition, a whole element that goes into

the making the brewing. So we we both agree, where do we not heat the water in the microwave? That is totally totally forbidden and bad for you and not good for you and horrable. So after year you were telling me about this experiment that you did in high school. I actually have to give the credit to a young lady who wrote the article up and it caught the

attention of our national media. And the experiment was she took two identical jugs of water out of the same tap, of which one she put into the microwave and boiled it. She then had two identical plants and asked the plants needed watering. One got the fresh tap water out of the that jagon, one got the water that had been microwaved. And after three weeks, the plant that was meant to be rehydrated with the microwave water died dead, completely dead,

was no longer. So I water that's been heated in the microwave and then cooled down is not good for a plant, probably not really good for us. Yeah. And the other danger is you can super heat things. It might so if you boil your water then you put your tea bag into it, it can turn to steam and that's not good for anybody exactly. So how do you heat the water when you make the perfect cup

of twinings? Being very British, I have an electric kettle and what I do is I empty the cattle out of previously heated water and put in good fresh cold tap water because that has the most dissolved oxygen and it's the dissolved oxygen in the Okay, wait wait, wait, back up, back up. So you have the plug in cattle, which have just now become popular in the last two

years here and available in most stores. So the plug in kettle, which I have on two of them on one on my countertop upstairs and one on my countertop in my studio. So dump the water out that's in there. I don't do that. I need to do that, and I knew not to use hot water, but always to put cold water in because it contains the dissolved oxygen. That's what it's all about. That's the bit of the water that gets the flavor off the tea. Okay, So dump out the old water, put in the fresh water,

cold water, switch turn it on. How hot For the hubbles, we're going to go straight to boiling. For black teas, we're going to go straight to boiling. You can these days getting kettles. You can pre set the temperature right Mine has one eight, two twenty and boiling. Okay, so you would hit one eight if you were going to make a cup of green tea or white tea and oolan oh, I love the lan Yeah, it's so good. What I have to do is let it go to boiling and then walk away for five minutes. But when

it gets to boiling. So you've got one that just has offered boil it, y okay, all right, well you should you should spoil yourself. Get the one that has the maybe I should. Yeah, okay, move into the century. Um. And in the meantime, I'm perusing the tea cup and to see what I'm going to be drinking. You know, we know we're going to start our day with the English. Yeah, if it was this time of day, and perusing the herbals to see what I feel like. Um, and yes,

bag into cup first. And then just as the cattle reaches boiling point. If it's an old fashioned cattle, it has what I call a safety device. In other words, if I get distracted, um, it will boil and actual builds up a head of steam. It will switch itself off, but that takes ten to fifteen seconds. We don't want that ten to fifteen seconds of boiling because it's pushing

out that precious dissolved oxygen. So you supervise it cattle, switch it off, on, goes the water, and then it's I think the stage that people have most difficulty with. There's a lot of this sort chilling of the bag going on, or a spoon comes out and the poor bag gets beaten to death in the attempt to speed up the process. You can't. It takes for herbal teas four minutes to get the faver off. For black teas, yes it will come off in three, and green teas

and two and a half is fine, but be patient. Frankly, the water is too hot to drink anyway. If you can drink water that's just come out of the cattle after thirty seconds, then wow. I don't advise you to do it, though, um So let it brew, let it steep, let the flavors come out. Then remove the bag, and then if you like, like you like honey in your English breakfast, I personally think the very fusion that the cherries and the blueberries have got enough sweetness there that

they actually don't need it. But it's your cuvity. You must drink it the way you like it. And then yes, sit back, relax. If you're by yourself, you can read a book, tells you whatever you like. If you're with friends from family, maybe have one of these wonderful old fashioned things called a conversation. A conversation, well, I love the very fusion, and I don't put any sweetener in it, because you're right, it's very sweet, not overly sweet, but

just that hint of sweetness that's delightful. And the conversation, the art of conversation is disappearing. Sadly. I just read a study the other day that said, the the average young person checks their phone for social media interaction. Guess how many times? Guess what the the what would you say? The length of time between checking your phone is for the average person three and a half minutes, every three

and a half minutes. People between the ages they could in that three and a half minutes, but people between the ages, there was like ten thousand people studied between the ages of fourteen and thirty five three and a half minutes. They check their social media every three and a half minutes. And there's actually dopamine that's released in your brain when you've become addicted to social media, and

that's replacing conversation. So we need to bring that back with a cup of tea and a conversation about family, about friends, about passions, about hobbies. So do you have a hobby besides blending tea? Steven, the good Lady has a horse, so that takes up quite a bit of time. We have a lovely little rescue dog, and so is he and I got out for long country walks when she's off with Johnny the horse, and we play a bit of tennis. We love our garden and yeah, so

this is all goes perfect with tea everything. I mean, do you have like the mug that has the lid on it so you can take it on your walk with your dog? No? But part of the just going a little bit further is when I get back, when I get i's waiting, I get the tea. Yeah, I actually take mine with me with the dogs. Yeah, I have a husband, got me a green tea cup that has the lid on it so when I walk the dirt, so I can take my tea with me. Yeah, very nice. And what kind of horse? It's an old race horse

that she bread many years ago. More of a friend than an old racehorse. No such thing as an old racehorse doesn't matter. He's still a racehorse in and his head still a racehorse. So that tells me that your sweet lady must have a very strong will, because you do not ride a racehorse unless the racehorse knows that you are the boss absolutely otherwise you are quickly quickly dismounted. Yes, so she must have a very strong will. Do good for her. And this was she actually has had this

horse from birth from she bred. Wow. So this is a long standing relationship. And I have to tell you that if if it ever came down to you or the horse, the horse would get preference. I know my place. I'm very happy. I don't have any aspirations. I know where I sit in the world, and that's good as as somebody who had to clean my boots before I came to this meeting today because I wrote them riding yesterday. I can tell you she has a very strong will,

your beloved. What's her favorite cup of tea after she rides the horse. She likes the multiness you get out of an assam, which is a t Actually I can talk about it all day, but I'm afraid it's not available here in America. Why because we used to try and sell it to you and you said no, thank you, really knuckleheads that we are, I didn't say that. Well, you're gonna have to get me some so I can because as soon as I am off the horse and the horses groomed and put back, I literally run to

the house for a cup of tea. They just go. They're just perfect. It's the perfect marriage brisk ride, especially this time of year. And then a cup of hot tea, so you don't have to introduce me to your your beloved's favorite certainly be my pleasure. Now what kind of dog you said? You have a rescued Uh In England we call them hens and otherwise say lots of contributions. Yeah. Yeah,

she's a little little girl. Came from Portugal originally, and now I found a very happy home to be in, very good Well, it sounds like you have a blessed life and you have blessed us with tea, and I thank you. I think your father, your grandfather, your great grandfather,

clear on back through the ten generations of twinings in London. Now, I'd love for you to share some tips with my listeners on how we can relax and restore truly be your best blend during this time of year, when let's face it, everything is going crazy, work schedules, holiday party, school plays, Christmas parties and so on. In the midst of all that, tell me share with my listeners, why is it the Twinings tea chest one sip, one savory sip has such a calming and relaxing effect on us.

Going through the steps to make that perfect cavite is actually very therapeutic, and tea is meant to be savored definitely. Our seventeen varieties of Homal teas have an emphasis on flavor, especially the newest blends, the Buttermint, Lemon Delight and Berry Fusion. Our nine master blenders use the finest herbs, fruits and spices from around the world. I love a cover of Berry Fusion. It has the perfect touch of natural sweetness. It slows me down and keeps me going at the

same time. At Twining, we call that being your best blend. By the way, everyone, I'm here with Stephen Twining of Twinings of London, sharing some tea time together in the studio and sharing herbal tea, talking about how to be your best blend, sharing some holiday season relaxation tips, and reminding you to treat yourself, because, as we all know all too well, there's almost no relaxation during the holidays. Stephen, do you treat yourself of every daily Lilah, and tea

is always involved. Oh, I like a nice warm scone or a piece of homemade pie with some nice hot tea. Indeed, our herbal teas are blended to be a treat for the senses. That's the experience our nine master tea blenders work to create. We always use the finest herbs, fruits, and spices to create that perfect tea experience. I think there's a cup of Twinings Herbal Berry Fusion in my future. Now that's the spirit, Delilah. That's how you become your

best blend. Speaking of being your best blends, I just love this butterment Twinings tea. Stephen. When we think about this holiday season, we always prepare to be too busy. Now I want to tell people to slow down, to reconnect, to take the time to just be be with the ones we love. But you, Stephen, you and your family, the Twinings family, have more than just a little expertise on how to get people to slow down and reconnect. Yes, my family is being people together over a cup of

tea for over three hundred years. Three hundred years of tea is amazing, and sharing tea together is such a great way to slow down and have a conversation. I love your herbal teas. They're blended to be lingered over. Our nine master blenders use the finest herbs, fruits, and spices to create unique flavors in seventeen varieties. The newest blends include buttermint, berry Fusion and Lemon Delight. We're reconnecting. Did you bring me any tea? Stephen? I never walk

out the door without some thank you. We need to get some more hot water, A little more hot water in the studio here so we can brew our next cup of Twinings tea and Stephen. During the holidays, it's always a good idea to schedule escape time. Escape time from the craziness and regroup. Where is your quick escape hideaway? I retreat to my study with a cup of herbal tea. Herbal tea is perfect for unwinding. Our nine master blenders crafts seventeen varieties of Twining's herbal tea to create the

perfect balance of taste, flavor, and aroma. I just love sitting with a cup of your buttermin herbal tea. It is such a smooth peppermint and vanilla flavor. It's like many vacation At Twinings, we want to help create that moment of relaxation and use the tea break as an escape so you can be your best blend. I'm going to ask you to give us a holiday tip this week. How do you how do you handle the constant non staff of the holidays. Well, as you know, we the

British take a break. That's what tea time is all about. Absolutely, I do love relaxing with some tea. Twinings herbals are meant for relaxation. To Lilah, there about savoring the flavor. The aroma are nine master blenders use the finest herbs and fruits and spices to create that experience. When you can take a break and refresh yourself, you can be

your best blend. I agree completely. And by the way, if you just joined us here on the podcast, I'm here in the studio with Stephen Twining of Twining of London Life with me right here. I love tea. I've been a tea drinker my whole life. I'm not a coffee drinker. I'm a tea drinker, and we've got cups of Twinings tea brewing here in the studio. We are enjoying wonderful conversation together. Now, Stephen, tell me who is interning under you? Who is who is now learning the

secrets of tea from you at the moment? No one but we. I have my fingers recently family crossed because I have a couple of nephews as well as my son and my daughter, and it could well be my daughter we had I talked about Daniel's son of Thomas. He actually died quite young before his second son could join him in the business. And she ran our business for some twenty one years at the end of the eighteenth century, which was incredible. Wow, that was back before

women were allowed to do such. Exactly now did she have to sign her name as her husband's name. She was respected for being in the business because she'd obviously been helping him husband before he died and had the knowledge, and yeah, I took the business forwards. Wow, that is wonderful. So strong women and family love and natural good, healthy, wonderful ingredients. Life doesn't get any better than that. Don't.

So I will tell all my listeners all the time when they need to relax or in the morning, when you need to kick it in the high gear. Your English Breakfast does that for me, does it very well. The only time I don't drink English Breakfast in the morning is if I've been to a particularly good party the night before and might have to kick it up a gear to the Irish breakfast. Ah. Now that's something

I will keep in mind. Not that I ever go to parties the night before, but my husband and I just recently got custody of a two year old foster child, so my parties the night before are screaming baby at three o'clock in the morning. Yeah yeah, On those next mornings, the English Breakfast will be replacing the Irish Breakfast, will replace the English breakfast, or maybe I'll do a double bag. I've actually done that with some of your tease, because

I love the very fusion. I love the flavor of it, but I need the caffeine from the English Breakfast, and I'll double bag in a in a big, big yeah, so I get the flavor, but I'm so good. Oh, this has been delightful, Stephen. Thank you It's been my absolute pleasure. God bless you. Thank you to Twinings for being a part of the Delilah Show, but from my heart, thank you for just making such a fabulous cup of tea.

It's wonderful to meet such a fabulous customer. Stephen Twining, thank you for sharing conversations with Delilah.