Lately, I have been increasingly concerned about Australia becoming the 52nd state of the US, language-wise. I read an Australian bestseller where the entire book, including the title, used the ugly American spelling of ‘jail’ for ‘gaol’. Why? Did they authors think Australians are so dumb and dyslexic that we might think her husband was […]
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. […]
It seems these days, you can’t go anywhere without smart people pairing tea and food. Well, when I say “anywhere” and “smart people”, I am specifically excluding the somewheres where dumb people think serving a teab*g to your guests is acceptable. Anyway today’s blog is inspired by some commentary around a spectacular event we are […]
Last week, Lady Devotea and I found ourselves at an afternoon tea. Not a big surprise, it’s somewhat of an occupational hazard for us. We were surrounded by members of The Bonnet Squad. Now, it is traditional to describe people who are so incredibly lost in the world of Jane Austen as “Janeites”, but quite frankly, […]
Having a delightful afternoon tea with friends is of course, the ultimate way of enjoying a Sunday. Of course, some people might say “But Lord Devotea, my idea of enjoying a Sunday is on a motorbike driving like an idiot on dirt roads / attending some sports / visiting a leper colony / being chained […]
I have a passport that says I have never been to India. However, standing in a confusion of sounds and sights that suggested otherwise, we soaked up music, dialects, scents, the sound of blaring car horns and parping motorbike horns, rows of saree shops and grocers with spices piled high. Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam all combine to […]
It is obligatory, when travelling, to enjoy an afternoon tea. Admittedly, it’s not always easy. If you’re in London, it’s easy to find. The Australian Antarctic Territory, not so. Most places are somewhere in between, and Penang certainly is. The afternoon tea to be had in Georgetown is that at the ‘1885’ tea room at […]
Well, here we are in Penang, Malaysia, and I spent yesterday drinking plenty of tea. My Lady and I had decided to get a good night’s sleep (you can translate that as ‘arrived near comatose’ if you like) and so my first tea -a Finbarr’s Revenge from our own supply- got things cracking for me […]
I’ve pinched the title of today’s blog from a favourite David Bowie track. But only the title – the festival we attended yesterday wasn’t free. Not in money terms, although it was free from many of the things in Mr Bowie’s song, such as flocks of hippies and rampant LSD use, but then it’s not the […]
A weekend in Sydney is often fun, particularly if you mix business with pleasure. And in the tea business, business IS pleasure. We flew to Sydney last week to catch up with our friend Julia. At World Tea Expo 2013, we met Julia, and it’s fair to say that Lady Devotea and Julia hit it […]