Tea is what again?

I keep reading quotes about tea, some clever, some insightful, some poignant, and some that seem to suggest that tea can do almost anything. In fact, according to Lipton’s ads even second rate teabag tea or bottled “iced tea” with virtually no tea in it can actually do some amazing stuff.

In my everyday life, I’m looked at a quite odd. People don’t understand why tea matters so much to me.

I often help people to understand by explaining from my point of view, I think people who prattle on endlessly about old grape juice in bottles are a little odd. In a sane world, Shiraz would be more famous for its carpets.

Incidentally,  that’s not to dismiss wine as a cooking ingredient. THEN I can get excited about it.

Tea is brilliant. If you’re reading this, you probably agree. It can’t cure cancer; but it tastes good. It can’t stop tyrants wanting to kill each other and everyone else, but it gives the diplomats something to do with their hands while they talk. It can provide work for the poor, but it can’t stop their exploitation. (Well, perhaps it can, but with the dismal failure that is Fair Trade Tea, I think we can agree it isn’t yet.) It can add flouride to your teeth, but then, so can toothpaste.

Tea is enmeshed in so many cultures – Chinese of course, Japanese, Middle Eastern, English, Persian, North African (particularly Moroccan) and of course, Australian.

It comes and goes in cycles.

When we had our tea shop, it was the under 25’s and over 45’s that drank tea. In the middle is the latte generation.

And it was almost always the younger ones who wanted to try them all (we had over 150, if you count the herbals.)

So, maybe it’s up to each person to decide what it represents to them. Is it adventure, is it security, is it health, wealth or wisdom?

I think we can all agree it goes beyond here hydration. It’s a part of life.