A whole world of tea out there to tantalise tastebuds

The last five years has seen a massive change in our tea-drinking habits as, like with our taste in wine, we become more adventurous.

Yorkshireman and Twinings tea specialist Mark Nicholls says it has never been a more exciting time to be in tea.

“Tea has been around in Britain for 300 years and throughout that time there have been many different ways of drinking it.

“Up until the middle of the 20th century, Britain was a fore-runner in the exoticness of our teas.”

But then there was a problem with supply, the World Wars happened and our tastes changed to what Mark calls “black tea” and a move away from exotic teas from Africa and the Orient.

However, as we became more interested in where our food came from, so our demand for more exotic teas saw a resurgence.

“Over the last two years people have become more inquisitive about what they are drinking,” explains Mark.

“Customers have been coming to us, wanting to try new teas.”

Twinings has 253 different teas which they supply to 117 countries, its newest is an Earl Grey blend.

“Different countries tend to demand different tastes in their teas. We would blend a tea differently for the American market, say, than the British market.

“We are seeing a big uplift in green teas as people start to realise the health benefits of tea. We no longer seem to have to have milk and sugar with everything we drink.”

The quantity of tea drunk saw an explosion at the turn of the last century when the tea bag was invented in America.

It didn’t really catch on in Britain until the 1950s, up until then people had preferred to drink loose tea.

“There was a certain amount of snobbery about drinking what people regarded as ‘proper’ tea.

“But in the 60s and 70s there was a peak in our tea drinking. We have less than one per cent of the population of the world and yet we drink two per cent of the world’s tea supplies.”

But rather than just quantity it seems we are also looking to the quality.

Mark samples up to 600 cups of tea a day. But he believes everyone who drinks tea is a tea taster.

He got in to tea as a young boy growing up in Wakefield and the North York Moors.

“I was a Boy Scout and during Bob-a-job week I would make tea for all my neighbours and I think my love affair with tea started there.”

After working in hospitality and retail he decided to take a sabbatical and travelled extensively in India and Sri Lanka.

“I spent a lot of time in the tea plantation and picked up lots of tips and information that you just couldn’t get from books and videos.

“I came back to the UK and decided to get a job in tea and I was lucky enough to land a job with Twinings.” [email protected]