I wasn’t sure what forum to put this in. I am looking for a specific factual answer but if it needs moving, go right ahead.
A couple of months ago my mother went with us to Disney/Orlando. She was looking forward to stocking up on some tea in the England part of EPCOT. This was a specific brand she could not find anywhere else. She was very disappointed when she found that all they sell now is Twinnings. Although she likes Twinnings, we can get that in any supermarket. Now Christmas is coming, I want to get it for her, and I can’t remember the friggin name of the tea! please help.
What I remember: it is a store brand, it is from a high-end British department store(not Harrod’s). It was loose tea, not bags. It was most likely decaffinated (she can’t have much caffiene and doesn’t buy tea with it). It was sold at the English pavilion in Epcot. It is not a brand commonly found in American stores.
I’m looking for some suggestions about what the brand name may be. There is a good chance I will recognize the name if I see it. Thanks for the help.
There’s also Tetley’s. Hardly more authentic than Twining’s (one n, not two), but somehow often appears more genuine-British to supermarket shoppers like us in the Colonies.
If it’s a high-end British department store, that does sound like Fortnum and Mason, but if that’s the brand you’re after, there’s little hope. U.S. importers who used to have F&M tea have removed it from their catalogues, and the word is that it will now be sold only at the Fortnum and Mason store in London. For a short time after this news, I was able to find the teas I was used to on the F&M website, but now they have disappeared even from there. Oh, there are some fancy gift collections all right, but it appears to be impossible to order just the Royal Blend, for example. I see there is a website called The British Shoppe holding out some hope yet (they say they are experiencing “inventory challenges” and advise you to call before placing an order for any F&M products.
Some other fine teas you might consider are Taylor’s of Harrogate (whose selection includes a respectable decaffeinated version as well as the famous Yorkshire Gold), and Williamson & Magor (usually seen in a distinctive elephant tin).
I was in Fortnums only a few days ago (xmas pressie shopping the Owl way - go to the hamper dept of Fortnum and Masons, hand over a wedge of cash - job done) and if the brand you’re after is Fortnums’ I’m afraid you’re stuffed.
They are not supplying any food products to the USA as the “war on terror” has decided that British goods are a potential biological weapon (no, I am not making this up the yanks really are as mad as cheese), and it’s now too much trouble to bother with.
The bigger manufacturers can probably work round this, but a one-shop operation like Fortnums can’t
Oh, we probably are, but… mad as cheese? Why cheese? What’s so mad about cheese? Cheese always seemed pretty calm to me, inoffensive, not bothering anybody. (Well, most cheese.)
It may very well be Fortnum and Masons. I know there was an “and” in there. Maybe Marks and Spencer but F&M sounds more likely. Guess I have to think of another Christmas present. Thanks all.
Well, I was going to suggest that I (or another friendly Doper in the London area) could buy some and send it to you… but if what owlstretchingtime said is correct then we might end up shipped off to Guantanamo Bay before we can say “More tea, vicar?”
So could we do this or not? Is it only commercial quantities? Or would sending a tin or two over be a problem too?
I suspect that the US customs people aren’t that bothered about small quantities of tea (after all they let in large quantities of cocaine pretty regularly). I think the reason that Fortnums stopped is that it is too much trouble to justify the return.
There is a website for fortnums in the USA so that would probably work - it’s just they won’t ship their British range to the US.
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