The Brew.
Honest, reliable, friend.
An ice-breaker.
A comfort.
An all-round good egg.
Yep, we like brews… But do we? … Really?
There are strange fancy boxes in the office kitchen. Spotted them next to biscuit crumbs left over from 1998. Brew-rounds are being infiltrated with foreign goody-goody hippy teas and decaffeinated substitutes. There is no substitute for tea! Is this the beginning of the end? Are we loosing the need for caffeine? Why does tea need to be green… with jasmine…. and picked from the right side of the tea-plant every second Monday of the month?
A quick office survey later and a big sigh of relief shows that we have an average of 3.125 cups of tea per head per day.
Good.
Nice.
Reassuring.
….
So why are there colourful boxes in the cupboard? Shiny silver foils open and pessimistically more than half empty?
Another hit of number crunching shows that:
Coffee is our second favourite tipple. Acceptable.
Peppermint Tea and Decaf Tea. Third. No comment.
Horlicks, Hot Ribena, Ovaltine, Hot Chocolate and Andrew’s Liver Salts. Anomalies.
But not a threat.
An indulgence.
A treat.
An occasion.
Phew.
Yet… how far have alternative brew solutions spread? Is there a chance that we’re in a minority? That this is just the start of brew selection change?
Send your reassurances and end this internal torment.
Tea is by far the best (non-alcoholic!!) drink. We are such a tea loving nation, but why when you order tea in a cafe it is invariable rubbish. We need quality tea shops that make wonderful cups of tea, not the ubiquitous coffee shop that offer you a kit (tea bag, cup, water, milk, spoon) and ask you to make your own.
Yes, tea is great, but you’ve missed out cake – the perfect combination. Biscuits are ok, but cake is better.
Bring back the Tea (and cake) Shop!
Do I have to be labelled a poncy metrosexual because I like a peppermint tea after some fish and chips?
Tea with milk was actually invented by the Victorians, we all used to have black or lemon tea up to that point. So if I have lemon tea am I a ponce or a luddite?
Embrace the changes, but keep the ritual is the way I look at it.
The ritual of tea in England was invented by the Duchess of Bedford – a bored, upper-class lady with lots of servants and that. She had her slaves bring her tea and sandwiches in the middle of the afternoon because she used to get bored waiting for the swan, which in those days was carved much later on in the day. Since there was no telly back then, having a butty or a bit of cake with a brew was the highlight of most human’s lives, and became the most civilised and fashionable thing anyone had ever done ever. Interesting how a lot of tea brands still trade on these habits. If only my heroin dealer could do the same…
I play the field when it comes to the hot beverage arena. Tea in the morn, Earl Grey around lunch, coffee in the afternoon. Even partial to a Hot Vimto every now and then. Usually drive the brew maker mental.