Good morning all, and as it is Sunday, a less weighty topic for discussion. And that is, the search for a good cup of tea.
I should explain, as this is an international forum, that for an Englishman abroad this question can take on an existential quality. Hotels can be judged by many things (there is a whole thread running elsewhere on the Forum on the subject of what travellers look for), airline lounges offer a number of services, and so on, but a Good Cup of Tea is for many people the deciding factor. And not just any tea, but preferably (for me) English Breakfast Tea.
And it seems to be becoming increasingly difficult to find. Take the hotel I am in today (yes, sad I know, but I am travelling on a Sunday again ...). Green tea, yes. Mint tea, certainly. Camomile, jasmine, herbal infusions, fruit teas, rooibos - all there. But ordinary English tea? The closest they got was Earl Grey (which is not actually that close at breakfast time ).
This is becoming a pattern. The culprit is the hotel industry's desire to be "inclusive", to cater for all. And the tea shippers have noticed this and make nice smart presentation boxes with 10 different types of tea bags in them. They look attractive on the breakfast buffet and save the hotel having to think at all about individual orders. A win all round, they think.
BUT, in fitting 10 different types of tea in the box, they reduce the number of English Breakfast Tea sachets to just 10% of the box. And this doesn't fit with the fact that probably 90% of the people taking tea at breakfast unsurprisingly want ... Breakfast tea. So that slot in the box is always cleaned out long before the other slots have had more than one or two sachets taken.
And the Englishman abroad suffers again. Alas.
RichHI1 - 16/10/2011 10:09 GMT
Are there any restrictions for agriculture that prevent you packing some teabags in a ziploc in your bag? That might be a solution... The more hotels try to be differentiated it seems the more they miss what consumers really want.
A fair point. My main problem with tea served in hotels abroad is that they invariably serve it with the coffee water, i.e. 15c too cold resulting in a luke-warm and insipid infusion. Can it really be so hard to serve BOILING water..?
RichHI1 - 16/10/2011 11:38 GMT
And the "coffee water" is at the wrong temperature to make coffee. Probably more likely "Instant coffee water" Also the quality of water in many hotels is poor due to the amount and age of the plumbing.
Binman62 - 16/10/2011 14:52 GMT
Tea outside of the UK is generally vile no matter where or how it is made including taking your own bags, which is one step away from taking marmite (the devils food) or....god help us......HP sauce.........sweeping generalisation I know......
Some flavoured teas are great but IaM a simple soul with tea....put bag in mug....pour boiling water and add small amount of milk.........leave till golden brown and then drink, bag to remain in mug.......builders tea....perfect.....enjoying one right now!,
RichHI1 - 16/10/2011 15:07 GMT
Interesting, I have never been the Inidan Subcontinent but I iamagined that tea there would be pretty good. I am allergic to the dark stuff but I had a lot of the lighter green varieties in China and Japan and found that very palatable. I guess as tea cultures they take care over the tea as the Italians and some others do with Coffee. Latin America got to be chocolate with churros (preferably stuffed with dulce de leche)...
NTarrant - 16/10/2011 15:15 GMT
Right on Binman. Outside the UK you do struggle to find a decent cuppa. Not too bad in Australia and New Zealand though, was quite suprised to be served a pot of tea with real tea leaves in the cafe at the top of the tower in Auckland a few years ago.
There is also a problem in UK hotels where waiting staff are not, shall we say "local" and don't understand the importance of making tea correctly. What's the first thing you do when you get back off a trip, make a nice cup of tea!
BeckyBoop - 16/10/2011 18:10 GMT
i prefer tea to coffee :) Dont try and make tea in america its sick it will taste like pool water and the iced tea is just fowl and whowever invented earl grey should be shot... ITS JUST WrONG!!!!. Its ok to drink tea in hong Kong in a decent hotel but very expensive!!!! I usually take home the free packs of PG from uk hotels theones that come with the kettle in the room, works well in an emergency when away from home. Binman62 sweety you need to have atleast two sugars in a builders tea ;)
xxx
RichHI1 - 16/10/2011 18:23 GMT
Becky when you dismiss Ice Tea ar you including Long Island in that? I actually find Ice Tea with spicy Mexican Food a good alternative when you are driving and cannot drink properly.
Philistines all ye who drink tea made from tea bags! Tea bags contain mostly dust and even the better quality bags do not allow the tea to infuse properly. May I politely suggest googling Ceylon tea or trying tea from estates such as Nuwaraeliya.
Well done though Cedric for bringing this subject up. I only drink tea and have become so frustrated that I usually carry a bag of my favourite leaf with me and remain continually surprised that even 5* hotels serve only tea bags and usually poor quality ones as well.
I enjoy Green Tea and Rooibos which I take without milk or sugar. Black teas I usually drink at breakfast or 4pm "Tiffen".
I've tried with little success to "educate" hotels but the standard reply is "we have little demand for tea sir".
In Italy I go to great lengths to show restaurants how to boil water rather than take hot water from the coffee machines which gives tea the taste of an unclean lavatory!
One benefit of this quest to educate the world is that following my request for a tea pot and boiling water, using my own tea, usually means I'm not presented with a bill, and usually get a few biscuits as well.
Oh, and that's another gripe, why are we tea drinkers discriminated against when only coffee drinkers are given a chocolate or biscuit to go with the beverage?
BeckyBoop - 16/10/2011 19:32 GMT
Rich did i hurt your feelings sweet-pea... sorry :) i have never tried a Long island ice tea...the ice tea bit puts me off. Tell you what if you know where they serve the best in London i will go give it a try.. just for you!! ;) xxx
LP... lol.. you make me laugh ;) but can you taste the differnce between bags and loose? Ceylon tea is horride and very weak the slightest drop of milk and it dies. BTW my mum always serves tea with either digestives, jaffa cakes, rich tea biscuts and jammy dodgers!! and no 5 star hotel will ever do that!!! whats your favourite green tea> i prefer Jap - genmaicha!!
xxx
RichHI1 - 16/10/2011 19:41 GMT
Becky you didn't hurt my feelings, I thought you were a party girl though...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island_Iced_Tea
BeckyBoop - 16/10/2011 20:05 GMT
Rich, dont really do cocktails, if i do its a sex on the beach, gin and tonic or a cosmopolitan. I actually prefer wine usually rose or white otherwise cider and on rare occasions even lager!!
xx
Becky, yes I can. I never use milk so not an issue and it really depends from which estate the tea comes from as to it's strength. I really enjoy Darjeeling Green tea. In fact I prefer the Indian Greens to the Chinese ones. They are less bitter.
A great green is from the Azores. Hard to find but if you can then do try it out.
When will your Mum invite me to tea? With that selection of biscuits on offer tell her I'll be there tomorrow in time for tiffens! ;-)
BeckyBoop - 16/10/2011 21:29 GMT
lol ...awww you would be welcome any time :) she only has sainsbury red label tea mind you ;) whats tiffen? xxx
Cedric: As a Chinaman I certainly understand what you are saying with the kind of tea one meets from overseas travels!
China gave tea to the world and I am a tea connoisseur.
As Johnny English has pointed out that most of the food servers (and their boss) have little knowledge of what it takes to make proper tea and it is hard to fight the situation
My personal solution is to carry my own tea (mostly leaf teas) and make my own cup of cha in my hotel room. I first considered it a bother but now if is part of my travel habit.
You can have your tea and drink it!!!!
RichHI1 - 17/10/2011 09:01 GMT
Cadbury make a Tiffin bar, maybe it is this or maybe it rfers to the name for the Inidan afternoon meal
http://www.britishdelights.com/prod_cad21.htm
I am on a learning trend here as not being a dark tea drinker and not having a clue what a Jaffa Cake or a Jammy Dodger might be, though I can sense they must be sweet biscuits (in UK sense).
So to grab the bull by the horns...
I know the water needs to be boiling, I know you do not use bags, i know you warm the pot and you add a spoon for the pot when calculating but....
With Milk, with Lemon or Plain?
If with Milk, Milk in First or After (I remember a Steptoe and Son sketch about this from my childhood).
Little finger straight, semi curved or clenched?
Inquiring minds want to know.....
JordanD - 17/10/2011 13:18 GMT
Getting a cup of 'proper' tea in Peru is nigh on impossible. Your options are Coca leaves in water (the standard), a Camomile type and other herbal teas ...
Coca tea is very good in the region for helping acclimatise to the high altitude conditions; that said, I for one didn't like the smell (made me feel nauseous), so was stuck to camomile or the occasional sachet of instant coffee (which was far superior to any instant I’ve drunk anywhere else in the world).
JordanD: The only time I've ever tasted that nasty Coca tea was when I was very ill with altitude sickness in Machu Picchu. The Coca tea made me even more ill!
I travel with personal electric kettle and tea pot and my favourate leaf teas so that I am not deprived from my simple life's pleasure.
Happy tea time to all!
borntorun - 17/10/2011 14:14 GMT
I am an avid reader of this forum but a first time poster. Tea is very close to my heart and I could not agree more that loose leaf is the only way to go. I use a company called wanling teahouse. The website is nothing to write home about but its all about the quality of the tea.
If it's in a bag don't drink it!
