In February 2008, I had the opportunity to travel to Oslo, Norway for work. Not exactly the best place to visit in February. But, I don't mind the cold, so I was ok, and I enjoyed my time there. On the way home, I had a stopover in London Heathrow airport. For about 4 hours. Now, there is not much to do at London Heathrow's International "holding wing" except sit around, eat, or shop. So, I did what I do best. I went shopping.
I was browsing through Harrod's and found a selection of teas. I'm a big tea drinker, and had recently discovered that loose leaf tea was just so much better than regular tea. So, I decided to pick up a little tin of tea from England. I mean...who better than the English to have the best tea! So, I decided to buy this..
If you can't read it, the type of tea is "Lady Grey" and is "A tea delicately infused with the flavour of orange, lemon & bergamot." Now, Earl Grey tea is one of my favourites. So, this sounded wonderful to me. When I got home, I wasn't dissappointed. It was really good!
But, the story continues...
I very quickly used up what was in the tin, confident that I could find something similar at home. But, when the tin was empty, I was disappointed to find that Twinnings did not import this tea to Canada, and you cannot order it from their website. A search of my local tea shoppes did not produce anything similar. I think I tried several "Lady Grey" versions, all with no success. They just weren't the same.
Then, one day, while at the chiropractor, I told my doc the story. Knowing that he is British, and a tea connoisseur himself, I thought he would know where I could find some of this Twinnings Lady Grey tea. He told me he didn't know, but he knew someone who would know. His name was Jitendra. He's British of East Indian descent, and has a tea store in North Vancouver -- just up the road from my chiropractor's office. So, I went to see him. I brought the tin, and showed it to him, and told him the story. He said he doesn't buy Twinnings tea. But, he could make me something very similar. Make it for me?? Well, it turns out, he can.
And it is just as good (if not better) than the original. And it doesn't cost any more than his regular teas that he sells off the shelf. And he nows has me in his little book and recognizes me by the story...calling me the "Harrod's lady". I've been ordering this tea from him since mid-2008, and I still don't think he know's my real name. Meanwhile, I told the story to my Chiropractor, and thanked him for introducing me to Jitendra. My chiropractor started calling me "Miss Lady Grey" as a result. So when I was searching for a name for my blog, I decided to use Miss Lady Grey.
By the way, the name of the store is "Tea Time" and is located at 1418 Lonsdale Ave, in North Vancouver. If you are ever in the neighbourhood, and like tea, I encourage you to stop in. I have a few tea shoppes closer to home, but I travel the 40kms to his store because the quality and service are worth the trip.
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