Harney & Sons was commissioned to create a tea commemorating the wedding of William and Kate in 2011, and this is what they made. Their website bills it as a "union of Chinese mutan white tea buds, almond, coconut, vanilla, and a floral abundance of pink rosebuds and petals." (https://www.harney.com/royal-wedding.html). Almond and vanilla are two of my favorite flavors, so how could I resist?
I'm not sure how they did it, but the flavor notes in the Royal Wedding tea blend extraordinarily well. I cannot pick out the almond or vanilla separately. There's a little innate sweetness, plus a tiny bit of floral, plus another tiny bit of something that I can't quite identify. It's a very subtle tea. Fans of strongly-flavored blends will be disappointed. I like it quite a lot, but it is definitely tea to be enjoyed for its own sake. It doesn't pair well with any strongly flavored food because it gets overshadowed easily. I don't know how well it would ice -- I'd think you'd lose the best flavors.
After a little experimentation, for my usual large-ish cup of tea, I found the optimal preparation seems to be two level teaspoons of tea, water at 180 degrees, brew time four minute.
Updated! I recently bought some bagged Royal Wedding tea, and I've found it quite fussy to deal with. In 2 out of 3 brewings, I managed to either let it steep too long or let the water get too hot. It's unusual for tea in bags to be more of a pain in the butt than loose tea, so this was worth noting. Maybe I'll just cut open all the bags and dump the contents into a big sealable tin.
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