Short English Stories about A Nice Cup of Tea

Anyone fancy a cuppa char...? Here are some pictures and ponderances about my favourite brew...


Tea is my addiction. It is probably the only thing I consume every day of my life.


This is my favourite tea caddy. My mother has one too. Hers is so well used that the picture of the dog has completely worn away. We were trying to work out how old they were. I can't remember never not having these caddies. Nor can my mother. They are probably somewhere between 35-50 years old. My mother is adamant they were free with Cadbury's Chocolate Fingers inside. But on the bottom of my tin is a lable which says TEA 1/2lb NET, regd. trademark No80386, so I am not so sure. For the sake of Fred - this is where I now keep the tea bags. He makes a cup of tea, just for me, first thing every morning. This is such a treat, he can make it however he wants, and if that means a bag, so be it.


My gorgeous grandmother bought this little silver plated tea strainer for me from an antique shop several years ago.


This is the teapot given to me by my friend Penny for my Birthday years and years ago, long before either of us had even thought about moving to San Francisco. I love it. It is extremely hardy and the perfect size for one person .


Best of all, it has a built in strainer. I use it at the weekends to make a proper cup of tea. (To me, a 'proper' cup of tea means leaves, not bags.) When I was at school, probably aged about 13 or 14, our English teacher set the homework assignment to be 'Write an Essay on How to Make a cup of Tea'. After she had read all our descriptions, I will never forget the teacher coming in to the class and expressing her shock at we'd written. Apparently, every single pupil had simply recounted throwing a teabag in a mug, boiling a kettle, pouring on water, removing the bag with a spoon and then adding a splash of milk. Of course, this was not the way she thought it should be done. I'll never forget the passion with which she described the real way to make tea. Warming the pot, fresh water boiled only once, using leaves instead of bags. It was after that lesson, that I resolved to always try and make my tea properly in future.


This teapot is huge. It is my teapot for entertaining. It can probably make a dozen cups of tea. It is so heavy when full, it takes two hands to lift it. Hence the little handle you can see between the spout and the lid. In 1989, I was working for a company (long since defunct) called Amazing Array. I didn't like drinking my tea from a bag, so I asked the manager if we could have some petty cash to buy a teapot and she said yes. I went to The Teahouse in Covent Garden and purchased this huge pot for about £20. Shortly thereafter the company folded and I guess I 'helped myself' to the teapot in lieu of some unpaid wages.


A couple of years ago some friend bough me two tins of tea from Paris. I love them, they are so stylish and French looking. This is where I now keep my loose leaf tea.


Out of habit, I guess, I favour Twinings English loose leaf tea which I usually stock up on when I am the UK. I simply love the classics, the blended afternoon and breakfast teas and scented Earl Grey. I drink my tea without milk or sugar and I favour black teas like assam and darjeeling the most.



PS This was an entry for Clement's Is My Blog Burning 17, TasteTea.

Archive Alert! On this day in 2004 we were witing about Gordon's in Napa and Crepuscule in San Francisco.

posted in Tea and Blogging and IMBB

Short English Stories about A Nice Cup of Tea