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 […]
As I write this, the story is breaking of a deadly quake in India and Nepal. People have died in Nepal, Darjeeling and Sikkim according to reports. It made me think about the people who pick the tea I drink. Surely they count for something? Sikkim isn’t even in my spellchecker! If 15 people died […]
One of my favourite posts from this blog was about Buddhism, but started with a migraine. Of course, I wrote it the next day, when I was more sensible. Now, I’m attempting to write one mid-migraine. If you’ve never had one, you might think it’s a headache. But a blinding headache is only one symptom, and I’ve had migraines where there is […]
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 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” […]
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 […]
CLICK! At 5:36am – that’s less than half an hour ago – I heard a click. I love hearing that click. I hear it every morning at some point between 5 and 6 o’clocks, though if I’m having one of my daring weekend sleep-ins, it could be as late as 6:45. CLICK! I stand to attention when I hear it. I’ve spent two minutes […]
I am boiling mad, because some people I’ve never met didn’t get to have the cup of tea I wanted them to have on the other side of the globe. And I feel I’ve let them down. I’ve just looked back over the tweets where I’ve got stuck into any organisation for a lack of service. And whilst not a big […]
As Sarah Rose points out in “For All The Tea in China”, tea is quite an unhygienic product by the time it arrives in those fancy containers. But that is not the dirtiness I’ll be talking about today. I’ve been blogging about tea in written and video form for around two years now. After my tea shop closed, I had very limited […]