Royal wedding spirit hits GTA with special tea
Entrepreneur also served special tea to Prince Charles on his Canadian tour last year
The Royal wedding may be weeks away, but one Brampton man is already getting into the spirit of things with a classic British staple: tea. A special blend of black tea called When Harry Met Meghan has been a hot seller at the Brampton tea shop T By Daniel.
“People love it so much, it’s been hard to keep inventory,” said owner and tea guru Daniel Lewis.
The recipe, inspired by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s upcoming nuptials, includes chocolate pieces, dried strawberries, safflowers and purple sprinkles, among other ingredients.
“We gave it that flavour because people always associate chocolate and strawberry with Valentines and love,” Lewis said, “so we thought it would stand out and pop.”
Lewis and his wife, Renata, have been in correspondence with Prince Charles ever since they served him a special tea when he was on his Canadian tour last year.
The connection originally came about when Daniel, who sometimes delivers talks to young people in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, came across Prince’s Charities Canada. He found out that organizers needed someone to serve tea to the Prince at the army base in Trenton, and he eventually got the nod.
For the occasion, the couple researched what types of tea Charles likes. They came up with Polo With The Prince, a reference to the Charles’ love for the sport. It’s a blend that includes Ceylon black tea, lemon balm leaves and strawberry pieces.
“He loved it a lot and he actually wrote us afterwards to place more orders,” said Lewis, pointing to pictures adorning the shop’s walls that show Charles sipping the tea.
Also hanging is a thank-you letter from last summer in which Charles writes, “How very grateful I was to receive those two packets of your rather special tea, having so enjoyed the unexpected surprise of being given a cup of it at the Prince’s Operation Entrepreneur event in Canada last month.”
Lewis said he made a request to serve tea at the Harry-Meghan wedding, but was turned down.
Lewis said tea business is on the rise everywhere, but he’s more focused on the experience of enjoying it. At his shop at the Bramlea City Centre mall, the smiling 30-year-old entrepreneur and his staff often perform thank-you dance moves and hand out candies to customers.
For him, “tea makes health fun,” he said, adding “You don’t pass out after three cups of tea like you do alcohol.”
Toronto tea enthusiast and longtime royal watcher Patricia Treble, who runs the independent website Write Royalty, called the Harry-Meghan tea a smart concept coming at just the right time.
Royal weddings, she noted, are like the Super Bowl in terms of generating business.
“Classic British tea. Smells outdoorsy. This is really nice,” she said after sampling the tea.
“You see a lot of crappy stuff that’s produced for this kind of occasion. This one I think will do very well.”