All things tea

I love tea and everything that goes with it - teapots, mugs, cups, afternoon tea, tea shops.  At the age of 50 I have the consumer tastes of a 90 year old. 

I didn't touch tea or coffee until I was 26.  I was on a four-months detachment in the Falkland Islands.  We couldn't drink the water unless we boiled it so I mainly drank soft drinks from our one shop.  The management, in all its wisdom had failed to rotate stock, and had a massive amount of 6 months out-of-date diet coca-cola to shift.  Nobody wanted to buy it.  They reduced it to 10p a can and still nobody wanted to buy it.  They then removed all other soft drinks from the shop.  This was of course in no way an abuse of their monopoly nor incompetent management covering up for failure by maltreating its customers.  Good old NAAFI - supporting the British Forces!

However I have them to thank for my love of tea, because there was nothing else I could drink.  I couldn't take it with milk and didn't like it really strong so I am became a master at whisking the tea bag out of boiling water before it got to the stage where a mouse could trot across it.  Spoons are for sissies, asbestos fingers are the order of the day.  I returned to the UK and access to a wider range of teas - and yes, as we flew into the UK, the RAF pilots really did announce 'ladies you are now all officially ugly again' and we did all laugh and take the comment in the good humour in which it was intended.  

For several years I only drank earl grey. But when I was travelling through Ecuador it was very hard to come by.  I did manage to occasionally find some and eked it out by mixing it with English Breakfast.  That encouraged me to try stronger teas when I got home - the adventurous minx that I am.  Since then I have come on in leaps and bounds and have teas of all strengths and often mix up my own blends, sometimes by design, sometimes because I pour a new pack in the wrong caddy.  I still can't stand milk, I will never understand why anyone would ruin a drink as amazing as tea with milk.  I much prefer leaf tea, even though it is messy, it is worth the effort.  Tea bags are a good stand-by and handier for work, but it still has to be good quality tea.  

Boiling water is another must have.  At work we have water-urns which produce very hot water, but for a decent cuppa you need freshly boiled water, and to warm the pot / cup so the tea stays hot as long as possible.  I am not fussy about the type of mug or cup, but it must not be too thick and the inside must be white, not coloured (this is my idea of not fussy, you should see my idea of tactful).  I have several teapots - not the cute 'looks like a house' type, I just can't resist an attractive teapot, so I have seven.  Despite this abundance of pots the one I always use is the cheap, red small enamel teapot that I bought in Bert's of Brighton.  It is showing its age now, but perfect for two cups of tea.  I hanker after 'For Life' stump tea pot as well, to go with the other six pots I don't use.

I quite like mint tea in the late evening, but at all other times it generally has to be black tea and I have a few favourites.  H.R. Higgins in Duke Street has a fantastic selection and is a lovely shop; and the Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co in Pluckley, Kent does great tea.  I also liked Taylors of Harrogate Ntingwe Kwazulu and tend to keep a supply of Twinings bags and leaf tea in case I run out of any of the others.  I have foolishly assumed that paying a higher price for tea means the workers who provide it enjoy better conditions, but I need to stop assuming that.  Having just looked at the ratings for tea companies on 'ethical consumer' I was shocked that Twinings scored so poorly.  I don't know why I was shocked, it isn't like I have cared enough before to research it.  This blog piece was just me waffling on about how I love tea, but it has made me realise that I need to love tea which provides a decent living for people.  I don't want others to suffer so I can faff around being precious about brands surrounded by tea pots I don't need.  The more we know, the more we realise we need to know.  If nobody else is even interested in this piece, it has definitely made me think about what I will drink going forward.