Lord Devotea's Tea Spouts

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Hiya. Tea?

    We are in search of a tea plantation. It’s here somewhere. Four miles to go, and we were ten minutes before our allotted time. Should be easy. We turn off the smallish highway into a quite small road. “In 100 yards, turn right”, squawked Google Maps. I know what you are thinking at this point: “Miles? Yards? What’s with…

  • This Is To Be Mortal

    “This is to be mortal, And seek the things beyond mortality.” Byron This is my 125th post on Tea Trade. Yes, I have way too much to say. But I might as well say it now. After all, I have no idea how long I’ll live. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow, as…

  • Whole Binders Full of Tea

    (This is my 124th blog on Tea Trade. It will form a good intro to my 125th which I am planning to be something a little different. Stay tuned!) It must be said, I have a lot of tea. Now, I’m not talking about the dozens of kilograms of tea sitting in our blending area;…

  • Onwards and Backwards

    The last three days in England have been spent without internet for various reasons, and there is a bit of a logjam of blog posts. So even though I write this about 15 hours ahead of our departure from this country and hemisphere, it seems to me I can’t post it until we arrive back…

  • Unexpected Delights

    It was one of those moments. We were in Peterborough. It’s an odd town. Not far enough north to be a Northern English town; too far north to be a southern one. Too far east to be the Midlands, perilously close to being too far west to be East Anglia. A town that has fluctuated…

  • First you heat the water…

    Bath. It’s all about water. Called Aquae Sulis by The Romans, the centrepiece of the town of Bath is a massive Roman Bath complex, with columns and statues, All very impressive. All Victorian. Yes, in 1897, on top of the old, genuine remains, some well-meaning individuals basically rebuilt a fake that, with more than a…

  • In Memory of the Tea Smugglers

    Let me handle your first objection, dear reader. I have heard that tea smugglers of the 1700s are no different to drug smugglers today; and if that is your opinion, dear reader, then you are entitled to it; as completely wrong as it is. Tea was not illegal; merely highly taxed. Smuggling tea was not…

  • The Good, The Bad and the Rest

    One trip to France, one minor health crisis and 10 days with very limited internet access ago, we finished  24 hectic days in London. I  blogged about more than a dozen tea experiences. Here, in compendium form, are the rest! These are not in order, chronologically or quality-wise. Brown’s Hotel Afternoon Tea. The same price as The Dorchester, and on a par.…

  • The Mettle of Myrtle

    I have fulfilled an ambition this trip and read “Myrtle Takes Tea”. Lady Devotea and I have also sipped tea with the author twice , and whilst we will respect that person’s wish to be a little mysterious, I am going to let the cat out of the bag and say that it is not…

  • Soldier of Fortune

    Now I feel I’m growing older  And the songs that I have sung  Echo in the distance  Like the sound  Of a windmill goin’ ’round  I guess I’ll always be  A soldier of fortune  The above is taken from a Deep Purple song. Surprisingly, I love it through I can’t recall ever hearing the original. But in…

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