The secret life of an Italian tea expert in London
My friend Alessandra Rovetta is a tea expert. She lives in London and works for Fortnum and Mason. What is Fortnum and Mason, you ask? Fortnum and Mason is a famous upscale department store in London and self-proclaimed “essential destination for anyone in search of extraordinary food, exceptional service and joy-giving things”. To me Fortnum and Mason is traditional British tea in beautifully ornate caddies, plenty of old world charm and everything tasteful and refined.
Why am I telling you this? Because they have recently launched a Bespoke Tea Blending Service and after seeing their video on Instagram, I was completely fascinated and excited. But what I am most excited about is that Alessandra is going to give us a behind-the-scenes look at this one-of-a-kind tea service and tell us all about her tea journey and tea dream job in London! She’s going to share her top afternoon tea recommendations in London along the way too! I asked her to imagine what it would be like if I stopped by at Fortnum and Mason and asked her to help me create The Tea Squirrel custom tea blend. Stay tuned until the end of the post to find out what flavor profile she recommended.
How and when did your tea journey begin?
One day I was looking for a good loose-leaf Assam tea to make chai latte from scratch. Honestly, back then I was not into tea, but I had found a recipe on a blog and I wanted to replicate it. It sounded delicious and then I have this fondness for spices. I am Italian and the stereotypical Italian is a coffee drinker. I do like coffee, especially the tempting smell of freshly brewed coffee prepared with the quintessentially Italian stovetop moka pot, but it is too strong for me. I became a huge tea fan instead. At the beginning, I was the sort of tea drinker who drinks tea made with grocery-store-bought tea bags. I gravitated mostly towards green tea because it’s lighter compared to black tea breakfast blends. And before that, I had had some unpleasant experiences with tea and I wonder to this day how I could go past those unpleasant experiences and really start to appreciate tea. My passion blossomed when I spent one year in the UK on a university program and I realized how important tea is on a daily basis there. You could say that British people are addicted to tea and it was unavoidable, I became a tea addict too. One of the things I loved the most was the feeling of freedom to linger in a café, comfortably sitting on a couch while sipping tea and working on a laptop or reading a book, a very different experience from the Italian café, where you’re in and out for a quick shot of espresso. When my time in the UK came to an end, I took a tea kettle with me back to Italy and fueled by the desire to replicate those pleasant moments, I started to read about tea.
How has your tea passion evolved over the years?
Back to that day in search of good quality Assam to make chai, I came across the Kusmi tea shop in Milan, Italy. The store associate was extremely kind and helpful. When I told her I wanted to make chai latte from scratch, she was very excited and asked if I could share the recipe with her because she was a tea blogger and was interested in trying it too. I was absolutely fascinated by her tea knowledge and we kept in touch. Fast forward to today, that knowledgeable tea lady is Elisa Da Rin, most of your readers already know her, and not only is she my tea partner in crime, she is one of my best friends. She helped me discover different aspects of the tea world and it’s really mind-blowing when you realize how vast and deep the tea world is, like falling down a rabbit hole full of teas and places and passionate people worldwide. I love how easily tea can help build human connections. Albert Einstein said, “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know”, and it is so true; and the more I’ve learned so far about tea, the more I’ve realized how much I wanted to make a career out of it. So two years ago I decided to leave Italy and move to London. And I landed straight at Fortnum and Mason.
What is the state of tea in Italy? What about in your region and home town?
Out of curiosity I’ve been keeping an eye on the tea industry in Italy which, I think, is headed towards high-quality specialty tea. The vast majority of Italians are coffee drinkers but tea is expanding and new tea shops are opening, especially focusing on education. It is still somewhat limited to bigger Italian cities but I was very excited when my mum told me recently that the new bar that opened in my home town serves loose-leaf tea in a cast iron teapot.
What I see here in Britain could be considered bizarre. The assumption that the UK is a tea-drinking country is only half true. There’s an increasing number of people who want quality, great taste but they also want to know where their tea comes from and how tea production impacts communities and the environment. However, Britons have almost forgotten everything they knew about tea. Don’t get me wrong, tea has still a place in their daily life but the way it is consumed has changed (only a tiny percentage of people use loose-leaf tea, most British tea drinkers use teabags).
What teas do you mostly gravitate towards?
It’s a great question that I am often asked and it’s not easy to answer. It depends on the time of day, my mood, the season, whether you are having tea by yourself or sharing it, whether you are serving tea with food or not. At the beginning of my tea journey, I used to drink mostly flavoured black teas, now I prefer unflavoured teas. I always keep a caddy filled with Earl Grey and/or a spiced chai-like black tea (a first love is never forgotten) but I gravitate mostly towards pure teas (from oolong to green to white, yellow and pu erh, black teas included), especially if they come from small and lesser known gardens.
Do you like afternoon tea and what are your favorite afternoon tea spots in London?
I do love afternoon tea! Such a quintessentially British tradition! I really enjoy this kind of tea experience because it’s a great way to take some time out of a busy day and treat myself to something special. Basically, self care. And it has increasingly become a great way to improve my own tea knowledge and see how knowledgeable the servers and staff are about tea. It’s so hard to pick a favourite in London! To be honest, the best afternoon teas are those shared with friends and loved ones. It’s fun, especially when they’ve never had afternoon tea before and are positively surprised. It truly is an unusually delightful experience, in particular for people not originally from the UK. Clearly, when I book a table for afternoon tea, one of my priorities is the tea menu, if it’s interesting then it’s always a plus. I would recommend the Claridge’s, the Dorchester, the Savoy, The Lanesborough, and the Four Seasons for a classic afternoon tea in Central London or the Sketch for a modern twist; if you are looking for a good-value-for-money option, the Ivy, the Coral Room, the Dalloway Terrace and the Wolseley are my favourite choices. I’m looking to expand my list of favourite afternoon tea spots, so stay tuned!
How did you start working at Fortnum and Mason and why did you want to work there?
Despite not having any professional experience in the tea world, when I moved to London, I immediately started to look for a job in tea. Fortnum and Mason was on top of the list because it is one of my favourite places, maybe the only one I really knew of because of my past yearly trips to London while dreaming of a life there. I never bought any loose-leaf tea at the tea counter (I was like every other tourist mostly attracted to the colourful tea caddies on the shelves), but I remember looking at the staff working there, imagining how knowledgeable they were and how wonderful it must be to work there. And now I’m working behind that same tea counter! Way back in the day, years before even moving to London, when living in the UK was only a dream for me, I had bought a big framed picture at Ikea of a red double-decker bus on a crowded street and Fortnum & Mason in the background. Was that a sign? It may sound outlandish but my future had been right there on my Italian apartment wall all along.
You are a Fortnum tearista, also known as teatime expert. Tell us more about your experience.
What I’ve learned as a teatime expert at Fortnum and Mason I owe it to the people I work with. I’ve been receiving a lot of support and guidance and I am grateful for that. Passion alone is not enough. Essential, yes, but not enough. When I first started working there, it was just before Christmas, one of the busiest times of year. Looking back, it was the best way to learn how to interact with customers and to learn about the tea and products we offer. Interacting with customers is still one of my favourite things, sharing my tea knowledge with them, helping them make the most of a cup of tea, encouraging them to try tea and recommending how to drink it properly. Obviously as a tea sales associate (but I like it when they call me a tearista, teatime expert or tea lover), it makes a huge difference when you are passionate about your job, because people perceive that and it is very rewarding. Additionally, I have learned a lot from a technical point of view – I had the chance to attend Jane Pettigrew’s UK Tea Academy – but this would not be enough without the people I interact with every day.
Fortnum and Mason recently introduced a Bespoke Tea Blending Service. How exciting!! Tell us more.
The Bespoke Tea Blending Service allows our customers to create a blend uniquely their own: they are taken through the steps to create their own tea and a personalized tin. The tearista guides the customer by helping them choose the tea type (black tea blends include Assam, Rwanda, Keemun, Yunnan and Rose Pouchong or green tea blends include Long Jing, Sencha and Green Jasmine), then the flavour profile (malty, woody, nutty, floral, fresh) and strength (subtle, balanced, intense), adding up to two kind of petals for decoration from a selection of five (marigold and blue, dark pink, pale pink and white cornflowers). The tearista will give a recommendation based upon the customer’s preferences, explaining for example why the blend works well and what each element adds to it. Then, the customer selects a name for their tea caddy which will be printed along with a label with a set of information (i.e. ingredients, brewing tips, date of production and expiring date, the unique code number for reordering the same tea if they like), plus a final touch for sealing the caddy. While choosing the name, the customer can use up to sixteen characters; the name can be left blank if they cannot think of a specific one, but I would help them in this process because I think it’s fun and memorable. This service launched at the beginning of October and has already received positive feedback. People like bespoke products and this is a winning idea for a present not only for the holidays but all year long.
If I were to come and see you at Fortnum and Mason and asked you to help me create The Tea Squirrel bespoke blend, what blending ingredients and flavor profiles would you recommend?
OMG it would be such an honour! Just this morning I saw something that could give me some inspiration for your personalized blend. A squirrel, holding an acorn, got my attention: it was hiding it carefully in a sheltered corner of the patio, to save it for the coming winter season. What if the squirrel could pair its acorn with a warming cup of tea? And you like squirrels since your blog is named after them! I would suggest a balanced malty blend, which embodies the quintessential British tea profile to bring with you to sunny LA as a souvenir. I would prepare a blend based on two teas: an Assam TGFOP, full-bodied and with a robust character, and Rwanda, a rich tea packed with flavour and a clear astringency. I love this tea from Africa for its caramel-y and pencil shaving notes. As a result, your personalised tea blend is perfect for a hearty pick-me up, yet refreshing for drinking all day long, with or without milk. I would add some blue and dark pink cornflower petals as a decoration to make it stand out. It wouldn’t be hard to find a name for your blend, am I right?
It sounds absolutely heavenly! I can’t wait to be in London and stop by at Fortnum and Mason to try this fun tea experience!
Thank you, Alessandra for kindly sharing your tea story, your dream job and afternoon tea recommendations with us!
Make sure to follow her on Instagram and Pinterest .
Photo credit: Alessandra Rovetta
Disclaimer: this post is not sponsored by or affiliated with any of the brands mentioned.
