Category: Tea and Life

  • Proudly A Milk-In-Firster

    Proudly A Milk-In-Firster

    On Facebook the other day, I was talking about George Orwell. Specifically, that for all his wonderful traits and gifts, he believed in putting the tea in before the milk in a cup, which is clearly erroneous. I mean, my Mother-in-law does this. How much more proof do you need? Anyway, one of the comments…

  • Kickstarting Nepal

    Kickstarting Nepal

    Some of my readers are other tea bloggers, and so I’ll just suggest right now, that sometimes it’s hard to keep up. I have a vaguely once-a-week goal and usually I stick to it. I usually write Sunday Morning Australian time, and sometimes if I have a busy Sunday, I can skip a week. Sometimes…

  • Needless Outrage

    I have been outraged. Needlessly. Here’s the scenario: Good food, great company and a six-pack of Zealong samples. Lady Devotea and I were entertaining a special guest, our USA distributor and Blender Nicole. We had a platter of meats and cheeses and pickled this-and-that and it was all great. Some crusty bread, and the aforementioned…

  • It’s All Plain Tea Sailing

    It’s All Plain Tea Sailing

    When it comes to tea, there are issues around describing one concept easily. And that concept is tea. Ask ten people what their favourite tea is. If you move in the exalted circles I do, then you are going to get a chorus of Da Hong Paos and Vintage Narcissuses (Narcissi?) . But if you…

  • Alternative Facts Sell Tea

    Alternative Facts Sell Tea

    There’s been a bit of a hullabaloo in the USA this week: some of you may have noticed that there’s a new President over there and his team are working from a different textbook to most. So far, they’ve embraced principles spelled out by one of the greatest thinkers this planet has produced: George Orwell.…

  • My Answer is ‘Balls’

    My Answer is ‘Balls’

    Today I have arisen in the quiet aftermath of almost a month of house guests. I find life generally, a bit busy. I run the tea business with Lady Devotea, and also a consulting business, and also work part-time in HR. Lady D also has a second part-time role. That’s two people with 5 or…

  • The Day The Earth Shook

    The Day The Earth Shook

    Yesterday had potential to be a day of high drama. Not just because there was a predicted apocalyptic level storm for my home town. Not just because it was the day of the first AUS vs PAK one-day cricket match of the series. Not just because I started a rumour that The Wiggles were about…

  • Hitting The Shack Pot: My Holidays

    Hitting The Shack Pot: My Holidays

    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…

  • The Tea-Stained Glory that was 2016

    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.…

  • The Chinese Slimming Tea of The Century

    The Chinese Slimming Tea of The Century

    For a bunch of reasons, my blogging is sporadic right now. If you are sincerely missing my delightful prose and deep love for all humanity, I offer below a reprint of some text I did today for an informational project. If you’ve searched for Chinese Slimming tea and found this page, then the good news…