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International Tea Day

 


Today is International Tea Day. Following National Bee Day, I am hoping the ‘ee/ea’ theme will continue and tomorrow will be ‘Flea Day’ followed by ‘Sea Day’, ‘See Day’, ‘Me Day’, ‘Free Day’ and, hell - why not? - Bidet! 

I am a tea drinker. I do not like coffee. Like rice pudding, pomegranates and bacon, I find it offensive. People who say things like, ‘Oooh, I need a coffee to get me started in the morning,’ or ‘I can’t do anything before my first coffee of the day,’ need to give their heads a wobble and sort out their health issues. And people who walk along with their Starbucks skinny latte macchiato full fat cappuccino whatever’s in one hand and their phone in the other need to walk on the other side of the road and get out of my way. 

I am a tea drinker. I start the day, like this morning, with either a lemon and ginger tea or, if I am feeling flush, a Pukka Three Gingers, as I am having this morning. I am partial to the Pukka Three Gingers but they are expensive so only treat myself to a box when they are on offer. Mostly it’s Aldi lemon and ginger, then. But when my teachers’ pension comes in, I shall be more Pukka. 

 (I applied for my teachers’ pension a couple of weeks ago. It was straightforward so hopefully there will be no glitches and it will slide into my bank account seamlessly at the beginning of November. Still undecided as to what to do with the lump sum, though. The way this treacherous and incompetent Labour government is currently behaving, I may need it to flee the country.)

I like peppermint tea. Sometimes I brace myself for a green tea. I am unsure about green tea. Sometimes I think, ‘Mmmm, that’s quite nice’ and other times it makes my teeth squeak. It’s taking me a while to get through the box in the cupboard. I like a raspberry tea, preferably cold. 

I used to drink quite a bit of bog standard breakfast tea, or builder’s tea as it is also known on these shores. Maybe five mugs a day? But I find these days that I enjoy it more if I have just a couple of cups a day. I am finding more and more that I have to be in the mood for it. When I am in the mood for it, it’s the best drink ever! Less is more, as they say. And it must be made in a proper tea pot. None of this ‘tea bag straight into a mug and squeezed out with a teaspoon’ malarkey. Standards, please. Standards. Milk goes into the cup first, too. It just does, okay? 

I tried Earl Grey tea once. It was hideous. Might just as well pour hot water on vacuum cleaner dust and drink that. And I have also tried ordinary tea with oat milk. Also hideous. Tea drunk black is okay, but it plays havoc with the inside of your mug. As does peppermint tea. Peppermint tea not only encourages good digestion, it also encourages one to be prompt with one’s washing up habits. 

Happy International Tea Day, then! Enjoy your brew. 


Comments

Anonymous said…
I confess to be a coffee drinker and I use tea as an indicator of my health. When I’m getting sick I go off coffee and tea will be my preferred hot beverage. A sure sign I’m not feeling well. The most common tea here is below average at best, only a trip to a proper shop can change that. A colleague of mine form UK took pity on me once and offered me Yorkshire tea. Vast improvement over the regular tea bags. I have tried PG tea with milk, not sure of the sequence, milk first, then tea or if that even matters in the world of tea bags? It was fine. Not wowed.
KJ
21 May 2025 at 23:05
Denise said…
Most people seem to be coffee drinkers these days, KJ. It’s me that the weirdo! Andy has a coffee machine in the kitchen - it is noisy and messy and seems to require a LOT more maintenance than the kettle. How interesting, though, that tea is a health indicator for you. It’s so important to listen to the needs of our bodies.
22 May 2025 at 07:43
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