Lord Devotea's Tea Spouts

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • What Price Good Tea?

    There’s bad tea – it’s always cheap. Although if you buy it in certain circumstances – such as in a bus-shaped tin with “Souvenir of London” in it, then it’s not. OK,  so bad tea isn’t always cheap. There’s good tea. That’s expensive. Right? Well, no. Mostly wrong. If you have a cup of Cola,…

  • The Fourth Of July

    The Fourth of July is special to many of my American friends. Sure, it maybe should have been the 2nd of July, sometimes it’s called Independence Day and the declaration of Independence was probably actually signed in August according to Wikipedia, but it’s quite specific when you refer to it as “The Fourth of July”. In…

  • The Time Lord, Tea and The TSA

    Since arriving in the USA, it was pretty clear what the final post was going to be. It would see me sitting on a plane over the Pacific Ocean, with a tea glass of 1910 beside me, musing over all that happened to us over three fantastic weeks. Lady D and I would be reminiscing…

  • Pensive from PA to Penn

    On board an Amtrak train, knowing that the only way to get good tea is to boil the kettle we have concealed under the table using their free electricity and then using our travel teapot, I’m pondering two things that occurred at 30th street station in Philadelphia just before we departed, whilst avoiding the gaze…

  • An Intense Experience. I Hated It.

    Lady Devotea and I recently spent a couple of days with @jackie and @peter from Tea Trade. It was almost a 100% perfect experience.  It was good company and good tea, plenty of both. It was amazingly hospitable hosts, a lovely and very novel part of America for us and  it was quite relaxing after…

  • Returning to the Tea of the Crime

    I remember reading a blog post with pride. Sadly, you can’t read it now. It’s been removed. It was by @jackie of Tea Trade, and was a great rant about poor tea and poorer service. It dripped with sarcasm. Naturally, I felt that it was my influence rubbing off on our normally mild-mannered Tea Trade…

  • Men. It’s Time We Talked.

    I’ve seen a lot of tea lately. Nothing unusual there. Much of it has been in lovely china or fine glassware. I can’t see that as a bad thing. I’ve also nibbled on quite a few tasty and delicate savouries, mini sandwiches, petite cakes, scones and other confections: even a massively over-decorated cupcake. Yes, I’ve…

  • The War on Terroir

    “Terroir” is not only a French loan word; it’s also a term that has come to the tea world via the world of the wine enthusiast. Since I have often expressed both my contempt for every wine enthusiast since the thirteenth century and the fact that the last person to do something useful in France…

  • What happens in Vegas stays on Tea Trade

    After six days in Las Vegas, there were many firsts to assimilate into our brains. Sights, sounds, colours and people. Day one we did not much after such a long flight. There was sleep to catch up on. Day two we shopped. And then launched THE INFUSIAST. This involved meeting this list in person for the…

  • Enter and Exit: World Tea Expo

    Panel over. Walking Back. Breakfast. The coffee is bad, but Michael Coffey turns up with his lovely partner. Have a good flight! Let’s go. Walking back again. It’s hot. It’s hot. It’s very hot. It’s… cool. Peach water. Peachy. Nice. New Zealand Water, why? Drink made from oats. Why? Whoops- this is the Healthy Beverage…

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