I have been talking with the Official Teemeister of All Germany, Ken (@lahikmajoe), about his travails in a tea shop in Berlin. Via email, tweet, his blog, storify and live. It’s been big. Basically, to boil it down, he found a teashop operated by a complete nutjob. Amongst other things this wingnut believes, he believes he has the right to add […]
Yet another sample chapter from my forthcoming book for your comments, arguments and abuse. Don’t be gentle with me. Earl Grey used to be my favourite tea. It no longer is. That’s a positive and a negative. As I left my teens behind; I started drinking a variety of teas. Shocking as it might seem […]
(As I have been writing my book and not had much time to blog, once again here’s a chapter from it. Please comment as it really helps!) China! The spiritual, and actual, Home of Tea. Since the invention of tea; China has been many things. Ruled from within, ruled from without. A Communist Worker’s Paradise; […]
Chairwoman? It’s enough to make me apoplectic. It seems that this idea of political correctness is everywhere, and so often completely incorrect. It’s like a new, more socially acceptable form of mathematics where Π is equal to 10, because it’s a lovely round number. Too bad if bridges fall down. In the politically correct stakes, it’s often gender politics that masks the politics of ignorance. […]
(Note: This article is from my former blog and was published in April 2010. It is being added as a bonus in the book I am writing, so I thought I’d share it here. At the time, I also made a video inspired by the same essay, which is here: The Devotea and George Orwell In 1946 George Orwell wrote A Nice Cup of Tea. […]
THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT FROM A DRAFT OF MY FORTHCOMING BOOK. COMMENTS WELCOME Think of a Darjeeling. Any Darjeeling. I’ll bet it was Margaret’s Hope! Am I right? You know I’m right. Surely this is the most well known of the single origin Darjeelings! All around the world, people know this tea. I hope it’s not […]
THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT FROM A DRAFT OF MY FORTHCOMING BOOK. COMMENTS WELCOME This is a contentious tea. Perhaps it will never be discussed at United Nations Security Council meetings or suffer from Bono publicly calling for its abolition, but there is plenty of controversy – enough to fuel many storms in many teacups. Most of […]
I never got to go to a real university. I was too clever for school; at least that what I told myself. I coasted through until the final year with no study; no homework, just a wide general knowledge, a talent for mathematics and an unerring ability to do no more than what was required to pass everything by a few percent. I accidentally got an “A” […]
Behind me is a generation of Australians that believes that “British is Best” , where a Prime Minster quoted poetry about Queen Elisabeth II and where it was considered that our other great ally, the USA, was a hulking, whoring illiterate. Get hold of some old radio tapes, you’d swear it was the BBC. Ahead of me there is a generation that […]