As someone who only ever really drinks tea in december when we do a "guess the type of tea" advent calendar at work?, I am surprised every time I come to the UK by how just staying in hotels there makes you drink tea whether you planned on it or not.
Back home, I have seen quite different offerings in hotel rooms, while in the UK, apparently, you're basically guaranteed to get english breakfast tea from one of the above 3-4 manufacturers (+real & "fake" [decaf] instant coffee). I have yet to spend a night in a hotel room that does not have one or the other of these "big" 3-4.
And then, every time, inevitably, you go for it, because "ya might as well", though if there are any differences between the brands, I couldn't tell. ?They're certainly good enough to make me want to bring some home every trip. ? (Admittedly, I've never tried the equivalent teas sold here, though I am told by colleagues who I've brought back 200+ bag packs for, that the UK-sold stuff is supposedly better)
And since this might be the only ever good time to ask this:
What confuses me to this day, is why, when actually buying some of that tea to take home, it is (sometimes?) in cloth pads like coffee instead of bags when I have never seen a machine to put them in. How are you supposed to pull the pad out of the tea/cup before adding milk, especially when you don't have a spoon? (I can only imagine that the answer to this will make me look insanely stupid, but I'm serious ?)
Cloth pads? Not ordinary tea bags? I didnt quite follow, sorry if being slow.What confuses me to this day, is why, when actually buying some of that tea to take home, it is (sometimes?) in cloth pads like coffee instead of bags when I have never seen a machine to put them in. How are you supposed to pull the pad out of the tea/cup before adding milk, especially when you don't have a spoon? (I can only imagine that the answer to this will make me look insanely stupid, but I'm serious ?)
Best cuppa for me is Twinnings Assam and Earl Grey blend loose tea. Karen still likes Typhoo bags, unless i'm making, but thats just for laziness and i've moooooved on form that stuff decades ago.
Must be brewed in a cosy covered teapot ( ours an Old Hall 2 pint teapot - full ) for 10 minutes; 3 heaped teaspoons of Assam the same for Earl Grey so 1:1 but you'll modify the earl grey to start of with as it's quite a potent taste until used to it. A Pal of mine comes all the way from Essex quite regularly and always looks forward to the tea.
Can’t beat Assam
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Very interesting this, I learn alot.
Assam is it similar to breakfast tea?
In my internal contest yesterday evening at the kitchen table where twinings breakfast tea met PG tips, the latter actually won most points.
It's not uncommon for me to have my 'Englishness' questioned, because I know only one thing about tea: it's absolutely revolting. I have a small catalogue of polite ways of declining a cup of tea, all of which have been extensively practised. I may also have been heard referring to tea as 'bitter water dressed in brown' or 'hot leaf juice'.
Well, that's probably my sole contribution to this thread. Over to you, @Teresa.
Cheers,
Tom