Fairmont Hotels & Resorts’ Lot 35 Tea

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts' Lot 35 Tea“We just want to elevate what we’re actually giving in a cup of tea and really try to make the guest experience even better across the board,” Brett says. He and Mairead, both avid tea drinkers, are revamping the selection and upgrading the quality of teas (both hot and iced) served in all areas of the hotels, not just that for afternoon tea.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts' Lot 35 Tea
While in Sri Lanka, Mairead Murray and Brett Patterson of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, left, discuss with Gerry Vandergrift of Metropolitan Tea Company, right, and Rajith de Mel of Van Rees Ceylon, second from right, their vision for the new Lot 35 line of teas.

Mairead explains they originally believed they wanted only certified-organic teas in theirnew line. But when they travelled to India and Sri Lanka last year with Gerry Vandergrift, owner of Metropolitan Tea Company, to visit several estates that would be providing teas, they had a change of mind—or palate. “Traceability and transparency are very important, so we can do that with all of our teas, first of all,” Mairead affirms. “We did make the conscious choice that, in some cases, the noncertified-organic tea was better than the certified-organic tea.” Actually seeing the growing and processing methods used and tasting these teas at their freshest gave the Fairmont team a better perspective on what constitutes a truly excellent tea, regardless of official certification.

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