Tea has been consumed in Russia for centuries. The drink was first introduced to the country during the Tsarist era in 1618. The Chinese ambassador to Moscow at the time presented Tsar Michael Fedorovich with several chests of tea as a gift. Although the Tsar accepted the gift with legendary Russian grace the tea was not very well received at first. Why? The Tsar and the people of his court were accustomed to drinking warm fruit and herbal beverages and found the new beverage to be slightly bitter. According to Russian folklore it was one of Tsar Michael's chefs who struck upon the idea of adding fruit and spice to the tea in order to enhance its flavour. Various blends were experimented with including combinations of ginger, salt, orange, peel, rice, onions and various herbs and spices. As it turned out the most popular of these were the heavily sweetened blends that included citrus fruit. Triangular biodegradable Tea Bags have made it possible to pack specialised tea by creating enough space for tea to move around freely.

Please note: In order to become more environmentally-friendly we no longer add large coloured labels to our tea packets. Simply peel off the small name label from the back of your packet to make it totally biodegradable! Gift tubes are as shown.