As I’m about to cover in a tea video on blending, I’ve never had a formal education in tea. I learnt by hanging around tea types, owning a tea shop, and drinking gallons of the stuff weekly. A while ago, the inestimable @lahikmajoe wrote about whether it is OK for tea geeks to not like white tea, and of course, it isn’t. However, […]
A few years back, we ran a tea and coffee shop, and for the most part, the people who came into it were within the range of ‘extremely pleasant and well mannered’ down to a ‘trifle surly’. Once a man came in, shouted that our range of gelati was not vegan – not that we’d ever claimed it was – and then left, still shouting. My […]
‘Twas the night before teamas, And all through Tea Trade, Not a blogger was stiring, Not a rant or tirade. Nicole is online, but not blogging of tea, she’s solving some geek stuff, of great complexity. In France there’s Xavier, A bed he’s tucked in, With a book by Maynard Keynes, And a Tie Guan […]
“I’m Death. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” I looked up and there he was. Pretty well as you’d expect. Black clothing. On the scrawny side. Big scythe, which he was swishing around in a meaningful manner. My manners kicked in. “Please sit down, Mr Death. The kettle has just boiled.” I indicated the second chair […]
WOW! This tea is sensational It’s light and peppery on the tongue, and yet has a full-mouth feel that has an odd similarity to fragrant soap. Except that if this is what having your mouth washed out with soap is actually like, I wish I’d sworn more as a kid. But to fully explain, I need to […]
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 […]
(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 […]
Giddephar Autumnal Clonal Darjeeling 26.7% Giddephar Autumnal Clonal Darjeeling 26.7% Assam A from Toklai Tea Research Station 26.7% Tigerhill Old 72 from Darjeeling 6.7% A Castleton clonal Darjeeling 6.7% A tasty Keemung Mao Feng 6.7% A Sikkim from the Temi Tea Gardens 0.0% A Raming Thai Organic Jasmine 0.0% A Nilgiri Thiashola, Organic, Flavourful 0.0% […]
I’ve just sent off a stinging rebuke via twitter. I do that a bit. When customer service lets me down, I like to have a good whinge about it. But not today. Today I will be singing some praises. I’ve been considering this post for about two weeks after I got fantastic service. I actually decided to do another complete order just […]