A tea party revolt is happening across the pond this week in England and the subject is not taxes or the debt crisis. In fact, it’s a tea party revolt in the most literal sense: Twinings relaunched its classic Earl Grey tea as a new brand, The Earl Grey, and a chorus of sippers are not happy about it

The distinctive flavor of Earl Grey comes from bergamot oil. Bergamot is a kind of orange, and Twinings recently jazzed up the 180-year-old recipe with some extra citrus flavor.

According to Britain’s Daily Mail, comments on the company’s website describe the new tea as foul-tasting dishwater and say it tastes like lemon cleaning product. There’s even a campaign on Facebook urging Twinings to bring back the original Earl Grey.

The whole situation calls to mind the famous phrase, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Twinings certainly isn’t the first company to alter a tried and true recipe to less than favorable results. Remember New Coke?

While Twinings figures it out, I think I will stick to my new favorite Earl Grey tea blend: Lord Bergamot from Steven Smith Teamaker; fragrant Ceylon Dimbulla and Uva are artfully combined with select teas from India’s Assam valley, then scented with the flavor of bergamot from the realm of Reggio Calabria, Italy. In a word: gorgeous.

One step closer to Steven Smith’s personal mission…to bring the freshest full-leaf tea experience to consumers. With praises from Bon Appetit, Imbibe, and now The Wall Street Journal – we’re proud to be storytellers for Steven Smith Teamaker. Watershed’s mission is to help brands grow in today’s artisan economy, so blending our passion with Smith’s is just our cup of tea. It might be yours too…Now, you can find blends from this small batch teamaker nationally, at Williams-Sonoma. See below for Charlotte Druckman’s take on this “Small Brew Tea Party.”

This morning, Douglas Derrick – Bar Manager of Nostrana Restaurant – was recognized in Tasting Table’s National Drinks Edition for his innovative tea cocktails.  He’s partnering up with local teamaker Steve Smith of Steven Smith Teamaker to make a black tea gomme syrup out of Smith’s signature Lord Bergamot blend.  The cocktails?  Doug is making a “Black Rose” with Laird’s Applejack, fresh lemon, black tea gomme, apple bitters and a “Steep Alexander” with Hennessy cognac, cream, creme de cacao, black tea gomme.

I’ve noticed a resurgence in gomme syrups on the cocktail scene lately, so I asked Doug how we can go about doing this at home.  He said that the trick to making a powerful black tea gomme (pronounced gum) syrup is steeping the tea overnight in cold water — at least 10 hours.  Hot soaking and then cooling leaves an extremely bitter liquor (brewed liquid) with little tea flavor in the cocktails.

If you happen to be in Portland, visit Nostrana for a tea cocktail.  If you’re curious to try your hand at a black tea gomme syrup with Steven Smith Teamaker tea, visit the website because they’ll ship it straight to your door.

Yesterday, Portland’s own tea smith, aptly named Steve Smith, gave KOIN Keep it Local host Araksya an insiders look into his new tea line Steven Smith Teamaker.  Watch as Smith, founder of Stash Tea and Tazo Tea, takes viewers on a tour of the Smith Teamaker small batch facility and tasting room in Northwest Portland, where he shows Araksya how to blend (and slurp) tea.

Click here to view the segment.

Steven Smith Teamaker is quickly becoming a household name.

Steven Smith Teamaker, the latest small batch, full leaf tea line by Stash and Tazo founder Steve Smith, caught the eye of Martha Stewart Living back in November, and we are thrilled to see the piece hit newstands.  The choice brew is Mao Feng Shui, Smith’s spring harvested full leaf China green tea.

True to our approach, this strategic article on Steven Smith Teamaker for The Oregonian was well in the works before we even wrote the press release announcing Steven Smith’s return to the tea market.

While we’ve been planting long-term seeds for national media coverage, we were also shaping breaking-news stories for top local media.  At Watershed, we believe it’s  important to give local writers access to local business stories first. Why you ask? Because often they have a deeper understanding of the people and culture behind locally-based businesses, and that insider perspective can help  shape the conversation for future stories.

Great work Leslie! We love your angle. This is a great foundation story to Steven Smith Teamaker, and just the beginning…