Book I · Chapter IV · Home, in the Margins

Bergamot in the Margins

A gilt-edged breakfast cup, lightly scented with bergamot

Back above the flower market, Juniper moves into the attic over the old bookshop and writes it all down. Every morning she brews Assam for the valley, Ceylon for the hills and a breath of bergamot for the day she cast off, then fills the margins with maps, pressed petals and the stationmaster's directions. When the last page is dry she opens her stall again, and the next time someone asks where the tea comes from, she hands them the book.

Where it's from · Bergamot is a sour, fragrant citrus grown mainly along the Calabrian coast of southern Italy; the oil pressed from its peel gives Earl Grey its perfume. Here a nature-identical bergamot flavour sits lightly over Assam TGFOP, a grade with plenty of golden tips, and brisk Ceylon, for a gentler take on Earl Grey.

Caffeine: High
Good for: Energy
Tastes: Malty, citrus

50 g · $11.95100 g · $19.95250 g · $39.95

Assam & Ceylon black tea with a light bergamot flavour · Hot · As a latte · Ordering opens soon

Illustration for First Bell English Breakfast

Chapter III Loose-leaf organic Ceylon & Assam English Breakfast tea in a white ceramic bowl

Book I · Chapter II · The Dawn Train

Stationmaster's Chai

Cinnamon, clove and cardamom, delivered at dawn

Juniper drifts east through a long, cold night. At sunrise she spots a railway line and lands beside a sleepy station just as the overnight train pulls in. The stationmaster strides along the platform with a steaming kettle, passing chai through every window: cardamom, cinnamon, clove and a bite of ginger. Suddenly the whole carriage is talking. He fills Juniper's flask too, and points her towards the hills where the leaf grows.

Where it's from · Spiced chai is India's everyday cup, poured from kettles at railway stations and street corners right across the country. Its spices are seasoned travellers: green cardamom comes from the hills of southern India, cassia cinnamon from southern China, and cloves were first traded from Indonesia's Spice Islands. Here they meet brisk Indian black tea.

Caffeine: High
Good for: Energy, Digestion
Tastes: Spicy, malty

50 g · $14.95100 g · $24.95250 g · $49.95

Indian black tea chai with cinnamon, cardamom, clove & ginger · Hot · As a latte · Ordering opens soon

Book I · Chapter III · The Bell in the Hills

First Bell English Breakfast

Assam and Ceylon, strong enough to ring the town awake

Juniper follows the leaf to the wide, steamy river valley of Assam, where the tea grows malty and strong, then south across the sea to the cool, misty hills of Sri Lanka. On her last morning there, a bell rings out from a little hill town below. She brews the two teas together in her copper pot, wraps her hands around the cup and writes: strong enough to ring a whole town awake. It's time to go home.

Where it's from · English Breakfast is a style rather than a place: a brisk blend of black teas made to stand up to milk. This one pairs malty Assam, grown along the Brahmaputra River in north-east India, with bright Ceylon from Sri Lanka, where tea spread through the hill country from the 1870s after a leaf disease ruined the island's coffee.

Caffeine: High
Good for: Energy
Tastes: Malty, honeyed

50 g · $11.95100 g · $19.95250 g · $39.95

Organic Ceylon & Assam English Breakfast tea · Hot · As a latte · Ordering opens soon

First Bell English Breakfast

The make-up of this chapter

Love it, brew it, know it

Why you'll love it

How to brew it

Good for & good to know

More from Juniper Gale's book

Earl Grey Takes Flight

Stationmaster's Chai

Bergamot in the Margins