I’ve been at this blogging lark for over seven years, and looking back, it seems to mainly be a series of posts that switch between unintentionally abusive rants and intentionally abusive rants. Every so often, I try to be serious, and usually fail. The thing I am really terrible at is using the blog to promote our […]
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. […]
One thing tea has in common with all other agricultural products is that each season produces a crop that is subtly different from all others. In most agricultural settings, variance is to be avoided. Supermarkets demand tomatoes or apples that are a certain size and shape, unblemished, and that will sit in a cold store […]
There’s a thing in Australia called the Cultural Cringe, and if you’ve not heard about it, it’s kind of a national chip on our shoulder; an inbuilt inferiority complex when compared to selected foreign cultures. It manifests in many ways, from TV programming to architecture to education. It even has it’s own Wikipedia page, so […]
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 […]
I am bewildered. In the next little while, we will be travelling 1384 kilometres to Sydney, and while we are there, amongst other things, we will have some tea. We will be having that tea with a dear friend who is traveling 14474 kilometres to get there. So, having travelled a combined distance of >17,000 […]
I was all set to write a post on international relations this week, and then a discussion on ABC24 Breakfast TV caught my eye and ear. I have not managed to find the original source, but apparently, some well-known coffee identity has lashed out at Melbourne’s baristas, suggesting that they are way too laid back, […]
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 […]
Something has got up my nose. Not exactly a new thing, really: Over the years, I’ve endlessly ranted about various things, and this is just the latest. Not the least, not the greatest, just one more way the world has failed to meet my expectations. I’m talking about “High Coffee”. Yes, in case you hadn’t […]
For years, many of us have dedicated ourselves to the war on teab*gs. One of my tea blogger friends posted the other day about another success in this war, but it perversely made me wonder: is it ever winnable? And do we want to win? And what do we want to win? And who are […]