Tea with Henrietta

My good friend Simon recently introduced me to the wonderful Henrietta Lovell of the Rare Tea Company Ltd. You have to meet, he said, she's right up your chutney Mary. Well, he didn't exactly put it like that but knowing how strongly she felt about one plant (tea) and I about another (take a guess) he figured it would make sense for us to get together and get to know one another.

So we met for tea.

I whipped up some Whoopie Pies filled with salted caramel buttercream. Delish. I should have made them a bit smaller though as each one was like a midi-cake in itself. And it didn't do the non-dairy aspect of my life much good but you should check out this buttercream - a kind of posh Fluff: egg whites whisked into a snowy frenzy with warmed sugar, then butter and dark caramel added until it all comes together in this wonderful voluptuous billowing delight. I ate a small pot of the stuff for fortitude for my long journey north of the river to Camden and Henrietta.

There she was in her pristine flat, poised over a selection of teas and ready for the alchemy to begin. Now I'm no tea drinker - it's never really been my bag - but I have been dabbling in that side of life a quite heartily recently and felt more than ready to be inducted into the ways of the tea. From White to Green to Black we went, taking in Jasmine, Oolong and various levels of...flushing along the way; it was as if being introduced to First Class after a long and gruelling career in the hold. And each moment of wonder that swept my face was joined by Henrietta and more fascinating tea facts. (God, that sounds so SQUARE but it's not, I promise).

We necked tea, shot-like, and ate Whoopie pies and dreamt up a million different schemes for bringing the magic of the two together. I think we have a plan and it's going to be awesome - hold tight!