Lord Devotea's Tea Spouts

Category: Tea History

  • Captain and Capability

    Captain and Capability

    Today, I break my self imposed rule against not reviewing teas that are available in markets where they compete with our own, using Douglas Adam’s escape clause in the Hitchhiker’s Guide series, where writers for the Guide may not, under any circumstances, offer a review that is against editorial policy “unless they really, really want…

  • 1846 And All That

    1846 And All That

    I read a lot, when I can. And I often read fiction. And I often read non-fiction. And often, that’s history. When it comes to history, generally, I like Stone Age through to about 1799. Why 1799? Well I was born in 1965, so anything that starts with a 19 or even an 18 just…

  • One Is Highly Unamused

    It’s not everyday you turn 90. For most people, it only happens once. It will happen twice this year for Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, or to provide her official titles, Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of Her other Realms…

  • Tea: It’s Not Astrology

    Tea: It’s Not Astrology

    As we all know, I never criticise anyone or anything*, but I keep seeing stories about “National Hot Tea Month” and I get rather annoyed. Let’s tackle just some of the issues. Firstly, in these internetty days, “National” is  a nonsense. Stop using it for “Days”, “Months” or “Weeks”. It gives no context. Use the…

  • 12 Days of Tea Pairing

    As you all know, I am one of the world’s most knowledgeable tea people, and I am also very generous and willing to share my vast brain with less fortunate beings. The same goes with previous generations of Lord Devotea’s. As an example, the third Lord Devotea** assisted a young lady with some tea pairing…

  • Hidden Dangers: The 10 Side Effects of Green Tea

    Hidden Dangers: The 10 Side Effects of Green Tea

    I get asked a fair few questions on Quora along the lines of: What are the side effects of Green Tea? To save wasting my valuable time, I’ve decided to offer one comprehensive answer to the question, and hopefully this means that all those people who apparently can ask questions on Quora but can’t actually…

  • The Lure of The Giant Teapot

    The Lure of The Giant Teapot

    Well, boys and girls, it all started with a giant teapot. That’s how we ended up with a stall, tastings and a talk at Ladies Day at a retirement village. Years ago, we looked the economics of holding tea events in Aged Care homes and retirement villages, and they simply weren’t there. Not enough money,…

  • Tea Service

    “I know the nicest thing I ever had on the Kokoda Trail was a cup of tea given to me by the Salvation Army. And I hated tea that never had milk or sugar in it; this didn’t have any in it and I loved it, I wanted more. I had half a cup, that’s…

  • Fine Words Butter No Parsnips

    A small intro, before the main event. I’ve always loved the saying “Fine Words Butter No Parsnips.” On a whim I decided to use it as a blog post title, with no idea what to write about. And then, on another whim, decided to challenge a few dozen other tea bloggers to use the same…

  • She and He and Tea

    Tea has been caught in the crossfire of a battle that is ostensibly between men and women for hundreds of years now. Why bother, you might ask? You might say “Don’t we have gender equality now? Not only for men and women, but also every variation of gender and sexuality therein. It’s it, like, the…