Tea. The fuel of the British Empire. The cure of all ills. The ultimate social lubricant and probably the most popular drink in the U.K.
Did you know that tea was apparently one of the greatest catalysts to entertaining others in one's own home? A tea fact that I saw on some obscure documentary (if you really want a reference, leave a comment and I will look it up - or you could just take my word for it!).
Another tea fact I read in a scientific paper during my final year at school when I was investigating caffeine contents of drinks: tea actually contains more caffeine than coffee however it also has other compounds in it which have a soporific effect meaning the net stimulation is actually less.
Tea was also a great source of torment for Arthur Dent in Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. After having his planet blown up and while suffering a slight hangover, Dent seeks a cup of tea to steady his nerves only to discover that Earth is apparently the only place in the universe where it can be obtained!
It may surprise you to hear that James Bond, an individual generally thought of as British to the core hated tea. He described it as, "mud" in Goldfinger.
I have a slightly odd relationship with tea. I essentially trained myself to like it when I was about 17. There is method to my madness. I love coffee. The good stuff. Not instant and certainly not the pseudo-italian bollocks peddled on most high streets. Good filter coffee ideally of South American extraction. My current coffee of choice is the Asda extra special Brazilian one. It offers a full, rich flavour, a lovely aroma and a pleasant after-taste. It is also reasonably priced so my bank balance can cope with the volumes I consume! Ideally I would be on a diet of freshly-ground Jamaican Blue Mountain but given it's slightly more expensive than similar volumes of diamonds (OK I may be exaggerating slightly but you get the idea) that's not going to happen any time soon. My point is, I trained myself to like tea so I could partake in the social ritual of consuming brewed beverages without having to risk bad coffee.
It started off well. Teabag. Milk. Hot water. Sorted! No fuss, no drama. Then a bit of sugar went in if I was particularly tired or hungover. Again still no huge deal. However then I made my fatal mistake. I let my natural curiosity for everything consumable take over. I'm going to blow my own trumpet a bit here and say I think I have quite a good palette. I enjoy comparing flavours and discovering the subtle differences. My varyingly successful cooking and cocktail making experiments have generally shown I can just about understand and mix flavours. So why did I assume I could turn off this side of my personality when it came to tea?
I was of course aware that there were many types of tea but I thought if I stuck ruthlessly to the teabag, milk, water, occasional sugar formula I would be fine. No such luck I'm afraid. My first foray was green tea (on the advice was a good hangover cure). I can't say it overly impressed me but it did taste totally different from the stuff I had been drinking thus far. That started the experimentation.
From there I discovered most herbal teas smelled of cheap pout pourri and tasted of hot water (apart from camomile tea which tastes, in my opinion, of stagnant bathwater), Earl Grey has a pleasant citrus edge to is, Assam is pleasingly rich and Lapsang suchon (I think that's how it's spelled) has a lovely smoky quality to it. I have even had something called gunpowder tea (well wouldn't you) which was served as a pellet that vigorously and rapidly expanded and broke apart when hot water was added. The flavour had a spicy edge to it but was nothing special, the main effect was visual.
I still think the specialist tea cafes populated and staffed almost exclusively by pretty posh girls are unbearably pretentious but I do rather enjoy finding market stalls selling speciality teas, not to mention treating my mind in Fortnum and Mason.
Has the interest stopped with amassing a collection of tea bags? Of course not. I enjoy novelty in process (hence fountain pens and shaving brushes) so the opportunity to get more things to fiddle with and generally add complexity and detail to an event was too good to miss. A teapot and tea strainer have now been purchased and I'm experimenting with ways to make the perfect cup.
So much for learning to like it as a simple option!
I will leave you with a story from when I was a student and working residentially with kids in my summer holidays. I was on bedtime duty so was marching round trying to make sure the little darlings were tucked up (alone) in bed. Plaintive cries with various excuses to stay up just a little bit later were ignored, games consoles confiscated and lights turned out (I had yet to deploy my ultimate sanction of a run at 6 the following morning for those that just wouldn't cooperate but I was coming close). For moral support I had a large mug of sweet tea (it was huge, much bigger and it would have needed a lifeguard to supervise it). The beer was to come later once this lot were all asleep. At one point I encountered a group of girls ambling back from the bathroom at an excessively slow pace, brandishing toothbrushes and generally daring me to challenge them. As they were decent kids and I knew that once they were in their room they would be quiet and fall asleep quite quickly, I decided to ignore them. I also thought that a challenge would prolong the entire process and delay me getting into the staff room and getting my feet up. As they were passing, one of the more precocious ones reached out and deftly plucked the cup from my hand. No doubt thinking that the mug contained some sort of exotic booze she too a huge swig. Her expression of pure disappointment when she found out it was simply a mug of Tetley's finest will stay with me for a long time!
JR
Did you know that tea was apparently one of the greatest catalysts to entertaining others in one's own home? A tea fact that I saw on some obscure documentary (if you really want a reference, leave a comment and I will look it up - or you could just take my word for it!).
Another tea fact I read in a scientific paper during my final year at school when I was investigating caffeine contents of drinks: tea actually contains more caffeine than coffee however it also has other compounds in it which have a soporific effect meaning the net stimulation is actually less.
Tea was also a great source of torment for Arthur Dent in Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. After having his planet blown up and while suffering a slight hangover, Dent seeks a cup of tea to steady his nerves only to discover that Earth is apparently the only place in the universe where it can be obtained!
It may surprise you to hear that James Bond, an individual generally thought of as British to the core hated tea. He described it as, "mud" in Goldfinger.
I have a slightly odd relationship with tea. I essentially trained myself to like it when I was about 17. There is method to my madness. I love coffee. The good stuff. Not instant and certainly not the pseudo-italian bollocks peddled on most high streets. Good filter coffee ideally of South American extraction. My current coffee of choice is the Asda extra special Brazilian one. It offers a full, rich flavour, a lovely aroma and a pleasant after-taste. It is also reasonably priced so my bank balance can cope with the volumes I consume! Ideally I would be on a diet of freshly-ground Jamaican Blue Mountain but given it's slightly more expensive than similar volumes of diamonds (OK I may be exaggerating slightly but you get the idea) that's not going to happen any time soon. My point is, I trained myself to like tea so I could partake in the social ritual of consuming brewed beverages without having to risk bad coffee.
It started off well. Teabag. Milk. Hot water. Sorted! No fuss, no drama. Then a bit of sugar went in if I was particularly tired or hungover. Again still no huge deal. However then I made my fatal mistake. I let my natural curiosity for everything consumable take over. I'm going to blow my own trumpet a bit here and say I think I have quite a good palette. I enjoy comparing flavours and discovering the subtle differences. My varyingly successful cooking and cocktail making experiments have generally shown I can just about understand and mix flavours. So why did I assume I could turn off this side of my personality when it came to tea?
I was of course aware that there were many types of tea but I thought if I stuck ruthlessly to the teabag, milk, water, occasional sugar formula I would be fine. No such luck I'm afraid. My first foray was green tea (on the advice was a good hangover cure). I can't say it overly impressed me but it did taste totally different from the stuff I had been drinking thus far. That started the experimentation.
From there I discovered most herbal teas smelled of cheap pout pourri and tasted of hot water (apart from camomile tea which tastes, in my opinion, of stagnant bathwater), Earl Grey has a pleasant citrus edge to is, Assam is pleasingly rich and Lapsang suchon (I think that's how it's spelled) has a lovely smoky quality to it. I have even had something called gunpowder tea (well wouldn't you) which was served as a pellet that vigorously and rapidly expanded and broke apart when hot water was added. The flavour had a spicy edge to it but was nothing special, the main effect was visual.
I still think the specialist tea cafes populated and staffed almost exclusively by pretty posh girls are unbearably pretentious but I do rather enjoy finding market stalls selling speciality teas, not to mention treating my mind in Fortnum and Mason.
Has the interest stopped with amassing a collection of tea bags? Of course not. I enjoy novelty in process (hence fountain pens and shaving brushes) so the opportunity to get more things to fiddle with and generally add complexity and detail to an event was too good to miss. A teapot and tea strainer have now been purchased and I'm experimenting with ways to make the perfect cup.
So much for learning to like it as a simple option!
I will leave you with a story from when I was a student and working residentially with kids in my summer holidays. I was on bedtime duty so was marching round trying to make sure the little darlings were tucked up (alone) in bed. Plaintive cries with various excuses to stay up just a little bit later were ignored, games consoles confiscated and lights turned out (I had yet to deploy my ultimate sanction of a run at 6 the following morning for those that just wouldn't cooperate but I was coming close). For moral support I had a large mug of sweet tea (it was huge, much bigger and it would have needed a lifeguard to supervise it). The beer was to come later once this lot were all asleep. At one point I encountered a group of girls ambling back from the bathroom at an excessively slow pace, brandishing toothbrushes and generally daring me to challenge them. As they were decent kids and I knew that once they were in their room they would be quiet and fall asleep quite quickly, I decided to ignore them. I also thought that a challenge would prolong the entire process and delay me getting into the staff room and getting my feet up. As they were passing, one of the more precocious ones reached out and deftly plucked the cup from my hand. No doubt thinking that the mug contained some sort of exotic booze she too a huge swig. Her expression of pure disappointment when she found out it was simply a mug of Tetley's finest will stay with me for a long time!
JR
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