Fancy a cuppa?

There's no real point to todays post. I just wanted to lighten the 'doom and gloom'.

Tea. I love it. I have very fond childhood memories of my grandmother making tea. She used real leaves, you understand, a nice silver (not real) teapot which was covered with an ancient tea cosy and left until the tea was brewed. She then poured it through a strainer into my special, personal mug (we all had one) and there was always several biscuits to go with it. Two sugars, lots of milk and lots of biscuits.

These days there's no sugar, less milk and no biscuits. I don't buy biscuits because I eat them and if you don't understand that logic I can only guess that you're male.

I became estranged from tea for some years. My love affair with instant coffee lasted for about 15 years. I started out with Maxwell House - UK readers will remember the ad with Gareth 'Gambit' Hunt and his handful of beans - before realising that drinking water with a handful of dirt stirred in would have more taste. Nescafe was next on the list but soon fell off the drinking list when a student midwife friend informed me of the evils of its parent company, Nabisco. From there it was onto Kenco. I had a happy relationship with Kenco, going through all the different coloured lids before falling upon Carte Noir. An exotic instant blend, the adverts always led me to believe that drinking it would lead to lots of hot, steamy sex. It didn't, of course, but I liked the taste so decided to stick with it.

When I came to Australia I scoured the supermarkets looking for my favourite brand. No Carte Noir, no Kenco. Nescafe, of course but nothing I recognised. I went through all the jars but found nothing I liked. ( I did the same thing with mayonnaise as well but that's another story). Gradually I fell into more 'grown up' coffee from cafes and left the world of instant behind. It was at this time that I came back to tea.

Again, I went to the supermarkets. No PG Tips but plenty of Twinings, which was good. Expensive, but good. Tetleys was a good find. I tried Australian brands but found they just weren't strong enough. At work I became a two bag girl and was mocked for dark colour of my brew. A fellow ex pat put me on to the UK speciality shops, where for the price of a kidney I could procure PG Tips Pyramid bags. Trips to the UK saw me coming back laden with Twinings Everday teabags. My latest tipple is Twinings Everyday Tea, a blend specifically designed for the Australian palate. It's not as strong as Twinings English Breakfast, not as strong as PG Tips but stronger than the other local brands. 3 minutes in boiling water, a dash of milk and Bob's your uncle.

Now I consider myself to be an addict. I open my eyes in the morning, stumble into the kitchen and put the kettle on. I come home from work, throw my bag on the floor and put the kettle on. I finish my blog, get up and put the kettle on. I have about 8-10 cups a day. I'd rather drink tea than have the finest champagne. Well, maybe that's pushing it. But I do love my tea.