Well, it’s Christmas Day, and my present to you is to present George Orwell’s 1946 article in the London Evening Standard, A Nice Cup of Tea. Merry Christmas.
A Nice Cup of Tea by George Orwell
If you look up “tea” in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points.
This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.
When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than 11 outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own 11 rules, every one of which I regard as golden:
First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays - it is economical, and one can drink it without milk -but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase “a nice cup of tea” invariably means Indian tea.
Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities -that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad.
Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water.
Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes - a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners.
Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly.
Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference.
Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle.
Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup - that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one’s tea is always half cold before one has well started on it.
Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.
Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.
Lastly, tea - unless one is drinking it in the Russian style - should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tea-lover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.
Some people would answer that they don’t like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.
These are not the only controversial points to arise in connection with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilized the whole business has become.
There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet.
It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one’s ration the 20 good, strong cups that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.
Orwell is, of course, wrong about putting the milk in last. The milk should always be put in first …
Last night I went out with my good mate Wilf and his charming missus, EJ. We went to one of my favourite restaurants, Joe Allen, in Covent Garden.
After a lovely meal, we came to coffee time. Wilf doesn’t drink coffee, so he ordered a tea.
I ordered a Tia Maria to go with my coffee. So Wilf ordered a Tia Maria to go with his tea.
The waitress stood and looked at him for a few seconds, just to check that he was serious. She obviously realised that she’d had far more stupid orders in the past, and agreed, slowly shaking her head as she walked away.
Wilf argued that we stick to conventions too much. Why shouldn’t one have a liquer in a cup of tea? I argued that tea comes from the leaf, whereas coffee comes from the fruit and the two are, therefore, completely different and incomparable.
Anyway, eventually, his tea with Tia Maria arrived, and I, being a cheeky sort, poured the Tia Maria into his tea.
And the taste?
It tasted like strong, sweet tea. Wilf said it tasted like coffee.
Anyway, mine was nicer.
Today is International Tea Day. Yeah, we have too many of these theme days - World Looking-out-of-the-window day, National Stroke Your Dog day, National Stroke Your God day - but at least International Tea Day has a great aim: to draw attention of governments and citizens on the impact of tea trade on workers, small growers and consumers.
Take a look at the website: International Tea Day
The BBC reports that 1,000 Westminster residents were invited to a tea dance at the Grosvenor House hotel on Sunday. Rather than a Palm Court Orchestra, they were getting a military band. Nice. Probably. Hope there weren’t too many 21-gun salutes, though I expect sales of Tena pads went up in the area that afternoon.
We should be having more tea dances, though. I know they do them at the OAP resorts during the summer, but is there anything more civilised and, indeed, English?
Another book about tea, this time courtesy of Project Gutenberg. Good to know that Steve has redeemed himself after those terrible Police Academy films.
After all, tea is the drink! Domestically and socially it is the beverage of the world. There may be those who will come forward with their figures to prove that other fruits of the soil–agriculturally and commercially–are more important. Perhaps they are right when quoting statistics. But what other product can compare with tea in the high regard in which it has always been held by writers whose standing in literature, and recognized good taste in other walks, cannot be questioned?
I’m not prepared to argue with that.
Take a look.
THE LITTLE TEA BOOK by Arthur Gray: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19392
Enjoy.
“Tea is a work of art”. So says Kakuzo Okakura in “The Book of Tea”, written in 1906 and considered a minor classic. Perhaps the most entertaining, most charming explanation and interpretation of traditional Japanese culture in terms of the tea ceremony.
The wonderful Wikipedia has a link to a PDF version, which I now present to you.
THE BOOK OF TEA by Kakuzo Okakura: http://members.aol.com/willadams/portfolio/typography/thebookoftea.pdf
Enjoy.
Depending on who you listen to, in the UK we drink between 130 and 170 million cups of tea a day. Yes, a day. That’s a lot of tea. And a lot of teabags. I wonder if someone could find a way of turning used teabags into an energy source …
Anyway, this post is about books. Books about tea. Fact is, there aren’t that many. 150 million cups per day, and we can’t even be bothered to pen a few words about it.
If you’re interested, this is what amazon lists for Books on Tea. Lots of coffee table books (the irony!) but not much serious stuff. I’ve bought “Tea - the Drink that changed the world” and will be posting a review soon.
Then I may write my own book on tea.
This is the first post on TeaSite, my blog devoted to tea.
Why tea? For me it is the ultimate drink. Refreshing on hot days, warming on cold. Wakening in the morning, and soothing at night (although it does, of course, contain caffeine). Great to have a chat over. Great to start a conversation. Great to make things better.
We British love tea, but we don’t worship it as we should. I plan to change that. My tea drinking habits are purely normal - no fancy stuff for me, no bizarre rituals (although always milk-in-first) but they help define who I am. Tea is the actor’s drink, the writers drink and the conversationalists drink.
It was made for me.
Welcome to Teasite. Get yourself a cuppa, and enjoy ..!