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

Chapter II Loose-leaf Indian black tea chai with cinnamon, cardamom, clove & ginger in a white ceramic bowl

Book I · Chapter I · Lift-off

Earl Grey Takes Flight

Earl Grey with a confetti of rose, mallow and sunflower petals

Every Saturday, Juniper Gale pours tea from a basket beneath a green-striped balloon at the flower market. Then one morning a small boy asks where her tea comes from, and she realises she has no idea. So she unties the ropes. As the balloon lifts over the stalls, rose petals, sunflowers and blue mallow flowers swirl up into her pot of Earl Grey, and the voyage has officially begun.

Where it's from · Earl Grey takes its name from Charles Grey, the second Earl Grey and British prime minister in the 1830s. Its famous perfume is bergamot, a knobbly citrus grown mostly on the coast of Calabria in southern Italy. In this cup a nature-identical flavour carries that perfume over China black tea, with hibiscus adding a ruby blush.

Caffeine: High
Good for: Energy, Refresh
Tastes: Floral, citrus

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

French Earl Grey black tea with rose, mallow, sunflower & hibiscus · Hot · Iced · Ordering opens soon

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

Love it, brew it, know it

Why you'll love it

Full steam aheadStrong Indian black tea brings a hearty measure of natural caffeine, and the spice makes it a cup worth wrapping cold hands around.
Spices with a long historyCardamom, clove, cinnamon and ginger have travelled the spice routes for centuries, and they still fill the chai pots on Indian station platforms and street corners.
Made for the stovetopSimmer the leaf in a pan of milk and water and sweeten to taste, the way chai is brewed in homes across India.

How to brew it

Water: 100°C
Leaf: 3 g
Per cup: 250 ml
Steep: 4–5 min

For a quick chai latte, steep a heaped spoonful in half a cup of water for five minutes, strain, then top up with hot frothed milk.

Good for & good to know

Natural energy
Happy digestion

Contains: Caffeine.

Contains caffeine. Not suitable for children.

Stationmaster's Chai

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

First Bell English Breakfast

Bergamot in the Margins