The Tea-Stained Glory that was 2016

Pinching an idea from the world’s most popular tea blogger, Nicole Martin at teaformeplease.com , I am posting a short rundown on which of my 49 blog posts in 2016 were the most widely read.

Reading these ten will make you incredibly smart, and very well informed, but sadly, mostly informed about my own defects. Reading them will cause you to lose 23% of your body weight, assuming every time you reach for a snack in 2017, you read one instead.

#10: A Tea Myth is As Good As A Mile

I had a good old-fashioned troll fight on Facebook, and it inspired this rant about ignorant tea myths. (This actually tied for page reads with with an old post about scandalous Scandinavian  sugar adulteration of tea)

#9: Who Are these people?

I decided to investigate who the people are who we see quoted on tea sites every day. Apart from myself, of course! If you always wondered about de Quincey’s quote “Tea, though ridiculed by those who are naturally coarse in their nervous sensibilities will always be the favorite beverage of the intellectual”, then wonder no more!

#8: Google Is a Lazy Co-Author

I had a self-important spit about errors in two tea books (one of which I actually liked) and that resonated with my readers, who are obviously as uptight as I am about such things.

#7: Brexit. Tea. Envy. Loss. Coffee. Really.

I decided that there were lessons for tea marketing in the Brexit vote, and then banged on about it. Actually one of my favourites for the year, but several readers told be to keep it shorter, funnier and tea-ier in response to this.

#6: Think Fast: Your Cuppa Needs You!

I covered a few different scenarios where you make a mistake brewing tea, and some quick fixes. Sort of an important community service.

#5: A Cup of Cultural Cringe

This was a piece of impassioned vitriol, so I’m glad it made the list. Basically, people pretending that tea is somehow inferior to wine grinds my gears, and here’s why.

#4: Tea: It’s Not Astrology

Some friends innocently posted about “National Hot Tea Month” and that sent me into a fury, spewing invective and criticising the entire human race. As one reader pointed out, “This is why I can’t have nice things”. Really put my foot in it as great tea blogger Jo Johnson had posted about  The Devotea teas for National Hot Tea Month. Oops.

#3: Sorry To Read Your News

Passive Aggressive “open letter” after great tea blogger and friend Geoffrey Norman was not interviewed for a tea/coffee magazine editor’s job he applied for. The fact that it is so popular may be because it was well written, intelligent, thoughtful and Pulitzer-worthy, or just that everyone likes Geoff. Thus proving my point either way!

#2: The ‘No More Tea Bags’ Tipping Point

When some bozos announced concentrated, squirtable tea in a can, I was besieged by requests to write about it. The general consensus was that this needed a nasty, abusive response, and that was my strong points. Instead I wrote a reasoned and thoughtful piece, although it did introduce the global audience to the Australian adjective “shithouse”.

#1: And it’s a ring-in…. Hidden Dangers: The 10 Side Effects of Green Tea

The most read post during 2016 was actually from December 5, 2015. I had this idea for a click-bait title and a highly sarcastic piece. Reel ’em in and punch ’em in the face. and it worked! In fact, it had more readers than numbers #2 through #6 combined. It attracts more readers from searches without the word “devotea” than any other page.

So there you have it. It’s hard to condense a year’s worth of invective into just one digest, but I’ve enjoyed it, which is the main thing. Any comments about what I should and shouldn’t do on my blog, will of course be gratefully received* and lovingly applied**.

*really!

** not really!