When I was younger I never really got the whole 'tea' thing. My first trip to Ireland at 15 was met with more tea than I knew what to do with. Everyone in Ireland appeared to be a relative of mine and not just any relatives, but ones who come armed with more tea than you could sink a battle ship with. As an unsure, gawky, 15 year-old I was never really sure what the appropriate response was, 'Erm, I don't drink tea'. When uttering these words they were usually met with a really confused look quickly followed by sympathy, tea and sympathy.
At uni I became a coffee addict. I would sink multiple cups of strong, black coffee. Until one day I went to the Doctors after experiencing terrible stomach pain. He told me to give up coffee, that 6-8 cups of strong black coffee a day was not an ideal diet, and that perhaps tea would be better.
And there it began, my love affair with tea. I am not quite sure what it is about tea that makes me smile. I guess it goes back to being a lover of the little things in life, but it is a core part of my day. I am currently sat writing this whilst watching Victoria Wood's aptly titled documentary, 'Nice Cup of Tea'. And it really got me thinking about how crucial tea is to our society, our lives as Brits and what is deemed as quintessentially English.
Tea is personal. It is not just about whether you like it black, white, with or without sugar. It is more than that. Do you drink it from a mug or bone china? Do you like a strong cup of tea or a milky one? And what times of the day does one most enjoy a cup of tea.
I have had many a conversation with my boyfriend about this. It took him four months to make me a cup of tea, during which time I had made him many. However, the war only really started once he made me the first cup. It was brought to my attention that he had a few issues with the way I made his tea. I believed that my tea-making skills were second to none. A wee bit self-assured and probably a bit premature, but I was going with it.
The war went on. Constantly trying to out-do each other in the tea-making department. Trivial, yes, verging on banal even, but such are our lives. Until I realised just how personal tea actually is. You see, people may view my cuppa from afar and see it as weak. But my tea is far from weak. I love a strongly brewed cup of tea, in a large, heavy mug, with a big handle, with plenty of milk and no sugar. He on the other hand likes a strong cup of tea, probably couldn't give two hoots what mug it was in, with a splash of milk and a sugar (or two).
You would think that my tea-rant would end there. But you would be wrong. There is then the action of drinking the tea. I would often sit there and look across thinking 'Git, I made him a cup of tea and he hasn't even drunk it.' Until I realised that he likes to let it cool before gulping it down. Me on the other hand, well I have an asbestos mouth and can't abide a cup of tea that is remotely lukewarm. Years of tea drinking has enabled me to gulp a good cuppa down in mere seconds. He also drinks coffee too which perturbs me slightly. How can one mix and match? Surely you either love tea OR you love coffee?
He drinks coffee in the morning and tea in the evening. I drink tea in the morning, mid-day, lunchtime, afternoon, evening and so on. I could no more get through a day without a cup of tea. OK, well I tell a slight fib, I try not to drink mountains of tea in a day... but I do have to check the fridge the night before to see if there is enough milk for my morning cuppa. No one wants to greet a Ciara who has not had her tea in the morning. Not only am I not a morning person, but lack of tea first thing gives me a headache that gives me the appearance of a grizzly bear.
I could simply talk about tea all day... as one builder on this fab documentary has pointed out, 'It is a long day without a cup of tea'. He couldn't be more right. I have even become a tea snob. I buy the same tea bags now, Twinnings Everyday Tea, and am pretty sure that I will drink this brand of tea till the day I die. Maybe as I have gotten older I have developed more defined taste buds (I highly doubt it), or maybe I just have a very dull life and need to fill it with tea to simply get through.
In my eyes, there is nothing that good cuppa can't sort out. Tea and sympathy, tea and a cuddle, tea and a good cry, tea and a mountain of cake, chocolate, biscuits or whatever is your 'cup of tea'. It is liquid wisdom, it is happiness in a mug and it is pure, liquid gold.
Right, that's enough tea talk for one day... I'm parched.
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