Margherita takes its name from the township nearby, itself founded by an Italian engineer and named for Italy's queen at the time, in 1884. The estate sits at the upper end of the Assam Valley, where the soil and climate suit tea growing well. This particular tea is graded GFBOP — Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe, a cross between FOP and BOP that's grown in only a few pockets of Assam and Darjeeling. The leaf is even and well-shaped, with a good share of golden tips, which marks it as a higher grade within that classification.
In the cup it's dark, full-bodied and firmly spicy, with the citrus and honeyed sweetness typical of a good Assam — lemon and orange notes against a thick, honeyed body, plus a warm spice character. It takes milk well, which fits with the tasting notes here, but it also holds its own served black. Tea & Coffee packs it fresh to order at their factory in Kent.
Black teas like this one carry a fair amount of caffeine — around 45mg per 8-oz cup is typical for this style — so it works as a brisk morning or early-afternoon cup rather than an evening one. Black tea has long been drunk as part of a general health-conscious lifestyle, and some people associate it with everyday wellbeing, though that's tradition rather than anything to lean on for a specific health outcome.
To brew it, spoon the leaves into an infuser, pour boiling water over them, and let it steep for about four minutes — a touch shorter than the three-to-five minute range often suggested for this grade. From there, take it with milk, sugar, honey or lemon, or leave it black.
