Founded in 1887 by the Densham family, the Mazawattee Tea Company was one of the most important and most advertised tea firms in Britain during the late 19th century. John Lane Densham came up with the name Mazathawattee, perhaps based on the Hindi “maza”, which means “pleasure or fun”, and the Sinhalese “wattee”, which means “a garden”. This was shortened to Mazawattee and duly registered as a trademark for retail sales in January 1887. Wikipedia
The tin on the left was a generous gift from one of our customers…a beautiful companion piece to go with one of our favourites in the collection!
“Mazawattee Tea is not allowed to spend its virtue, fragrance and value as a high-class Tea by exposure to the air, as it is packed in Tea-lead right from the gardens to the Blending Factory and from thence in sealed packets and tins to the consumer. You would never dream of keeping scent in a saucer exposed to the atmosphere, as it would soon loose 9/10ths of its value, so with Tea, it cannot be stored in bulk like cereals without deterioration by absorbing all high-smelling stores near at hand and by gathering whatever moisture may be in the air. The dampness of an ordinary rainy day is sufficient to lower the value of Tea by pence per lb. unless it is properly protected by Tea-lead or Tin packing like Mazawattee.”
