Some of you may remember that this is my favourite vanilla black of all time. I’ll tell you a bit about my relationship with Fru P at this point and then I’ll leave it up to you lot to decide what that says about me.
When she just opened the shop, it was shortly after Husband and I got married, so I pretty much just bounded in there in an almost Tigger-esque way, “Are you Mrs P? I’m also Mrs P!” (Fru being Danish for Mrs) I got myself a little bit in trouble with her tea selection, but of course I needed to try the vanilla and it was awesome.
I still keep coming back to stock up on that one. It’s just right for me.
A few months ago when I was in getting a big supply of it to drink at work, I was being helped by one of her assistants, and I asked for “that good vanilla black.”
So the assistant went and got the tin, and Mrs P came rushing in from the side going, “wait, wait, that’s not the one she wants! I’ll get the one she wants,” and then she disappeared out back for a moment.
Turns out when they had last ordered it in, they had bought a vanilla flavoured Darjeeling instead of the regular vanilla black, and Mrs P knows I don’t much care for Darjeeling. Luckily she still had some of the old one out back.
Then, yesterday I was in there again, obviously looking for some of my favourite vanilla.
Now, what does it say about me that the exchange went much like this,
Me: slightly conspiratorial look “That vanilla, you know…”
Mrs P: smiles and goes out back "How much would you like?
She assured me that they weren’t going to replace it completely with the Darjeeling one, so now I’m sort of wondering if she’s hiding the other one out there for the benefit of only a few customers. Obviously, this means that the tea isn’t exactly super-fresh anymore, but you know, in a flavoured black tea that’s less of an issue that it would have been in, say, a green or even a regular black. I feel a bit sort of special and VIP-ish when I order ‘off the menu’ like that.
I love that shop, I really do. I took an intant liking to Mrs P first time I met her, and have never had reason to change my mind. Quite the contrary, actually. And I’m not even in there every other week either.
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That sounds like such a magical, friendly little shop!
I can’t wait until we visit there again so I can go.
That is so awesome how she’s letting you in on the little vanilla secret in the back room. I hope she’ll never run out of it for your sake!
Maybe it’s the Everlasting Gobstopper tin of vanilla :)
I asked her if she was switching to the Darj in the future, but she assured me that it had been an ordering mistake. I think she’s just hidden it because we who can tell a difference and who care are probably still rather a minority, and having two different vanilla blacks on display at the same time might cause too much confusion. She doesn’t really have room for both of them anyway. She’s already got four or five of those big tins stacked on the floor because there isn’t shelf space enough. That little shop of hers is packed to the brim. :)
Marzipan, you’ll like it, I think. She’s got loads of stuff besides tea. Wine, specialty beers, vinergars, oils, syrups, nice coffees, chocolates, licorice… Lots of interesting stuff.
That sounds like such a magical, friendly little shop!
I can’t wait until we visit there again so I can go.
That is so awesome how she’s letting you in on the little vanilla secret in the back room. I hope she’ll never run out of it for your sake!
Maybe it’s the Everlasting Gobstopper tin of vanilla :)
I asked her if she was switching to the Darj in the future, but she assured me that it had been an ordering mistake. I think she’s just hidden it because we who can tell a difference and who care are probably still rather a minority, and having two different vanilla blacks on display at the same time might cause too much confusion. She doesn’t really have room for both of them anyway. She’s already got four or five of those big tins stacked on the floor because there isn’t shelf space enough. That little shop of hers is packed to the brim. :)
Marzipan, you’ll like it, I think. She’s got loads of stuff besides tea. Wine, specialty beers, vinergars, oils, syrups, nice coffees, chocolates, licorice… Lots of interesting stuff.