Friday, May 25, 2007

Tea-rant

Tony Blair had a good moan on US radio about the inability of ‘people overseas’ to make a good cup of tea. I’m afraid that when he is relieved of office and becomes ordinary again, he’s in for a shock: you can’t get a good cup of tea in this country either.

With a Costa or Starbucks on every corner, coffee-lovers can take their choice. Even in other cafes, they’re able to choose between latte, espresso and anything in-between. But ask for tea and you get a mug of hot water with a tea-bag dangling in it, accompanied by a pot of UHT milk and a straw of sugar.

How has this happened? Brits are renowned for tea-drinking. In an emergency no one ever says, ‘What you need is a nice hot, sweet cup of coffee.’ But it wasn’t always thus.

It was actually in a coffee house in London in 1657 that tea went on sale for the first time. Thomas Garway, the merchant selling it, claimed it was “wholesome, preserving perfect health until extreme old age, good for clearing the sight.” He also said that it cured “gripping of the guts, cold, dropsies, scurveys” as well as helping to “make the body active and lusty”.
A lot of people must have believed him because by the end of the seventeenth century, tea was being sold in more than 500 coffee houses in London.


However, for a long time, it was only men, who frequented the coffee houses, or the rich who could enjoy this expensive luxury: tea was considered so precious that it was often stored in a locked caddy with the only key being kept by the lady of the house.

But then in 1864 the manageress of a bread shop began to serve refreshments. Soon people were flocking into her shop to buy the tea she was dispensing. From here the teashop grew in popularity, but somewhere on the way to the twenty-first century, it disappeared from our major cities.

So come on, Tony, do something for which we can remember you fondly: crusade for proper tea!

INTERESTING TEA FACTS
The winner of the Top Tea Place 2007 award is Peacocks Tearoom
in Ely, Cambridgeshire, with the Dorchester winning the Top London Tea award.
In an on-line Pet-Lovers Tea-Drinkers' Survey, when asked who they would invite to their dream tea party, most people chose Rolf Harris, followed by Johnny Depp, then The Queen.

Experts have found clear evidence that drinking three to four cups of tea a day can cut the chances of having a heart attack and that, contrary to popular belief, tea is not dehydrating.

7 comments:

Shirley said...

It's gotta be PG tips (box opened for a max time of 6days), nice and strong smidgeon of semi skimmed and NO sugar for me....NECTAR!
I won't even attempt to drink shop tea as it's cack! I have been known to take my own PG's with me to a cafe and ask for a jug of boiling water!
I love tea!

Lee said...

Great post, Liz...very interesting.

jmb said...

Great post Liz. Ellee Seymour was posting about tea the other day and she mentioned Peacocks too.

I gave up coffee because of dry mouth and its diuretic effect. So I only drink tea now, always from leaves and I also drink rooibos, which is a South African leaf brewed just like tea leaves. I like it because it's full of antioxidants plus it has no bitter taste and I don't take milk or sugar.
regards
jmb

Ruthie said...

There's a Starbucks on every corner in the U.K., too? I thought that was limited to the U.S.

Dang. I'm sorry to hear that.

What an interesting post!

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

That could be Blair's new role - a tea ambassador. Howell's of Cardiff used to do reasonable tea - do they still? I love Earl Grey but friends and cafe staff even manage to make that taste like nothingon earth here!

jomoore said...

It's all in the water - it must be BOILING! That's why coffee experts can't do it - they heat up the water with those steamy spouty things!

Anonymous said...

Hi Liz, thank you for the link. I love tea and am just going to have a brew now, it is so thirst quenching.

HOpe you are having a great weekend.