Fortnum & Mason has released a special limited edition Gunpowder Blend tea to mark 200 years since the Battle of Waterloo, one of the most famous battles in European history.
Only 5,000 boxes of the tea will be available to buy in-store and online.
Presented in a beautifully designed box, a reimagined version of the original packaging, the special tea is a classic gunpowder tea that was popular in Georgian and Regency Britain - and that Fortnum & Mason supplied to the troops in Wellington's army throughout the Napoleonic wars, along with other home comforts including spirits and spices.
Fortnum's tea was a familiar sight on the battlefields; easy to carry in a knapsack and a source of companionship, nourishment and warmth during long marches and the interminable wait for dawn's light and the commencement of firing. At battle's end, it provided cheer for the victorious survivors of what Wellington himself described as 'a damn'd close thing".
Fortnum's 2015 Gunpowder Blend has distinctive smoky and grassy notes, delivered through the distinctive characteristics of gunpowder green tea, and is balanced and sweetened by golden-leaf Yunnan and caramel-sweet Keemun. It can be enjoyed on its own or with milk.
Each box will retail at £9.95, and monies from every sale will be donated to the Waterloo 200 charity, an organisation set up to drive awareness of the bicentenary across Europe, and preserve the legacies of those who died in battle.
