Tea! Just
the mention of it makes us thirsty doesn’t it? It certainly does. Everyone
loves tea...from the moment of birth. And it is this love of tea, I suspect, that brought you to
my page. You see, for years I have only been able to share my expertise
of tea with those closest to me. But now, with the wonder of the computer
and this technological age, I am able to reach a far, far greater number
of people and, therefore, am devoting my life to running a website that answers any important tea questions you may have. "But", you may be wondering as other people often do, “what makes you, Mrs. Eckspurt, an expert?”, to which I usually blurt out, “Over 40 years of marriage!” Ahem. That’s my one joke and responses usually range from light chuckling to
blank expressions. But I delight in saying it.
Anyway, the
fact is over the past 60 years I have consumed every single type of tea
available, hundreds, an accomplishment I completed when I was a mere school girl of 7. And if you consider that I drink close to 30 cups of tea
per day, more on cold days or when I stay up past my usual 3am bedtime
due to the caffeine shakes, well that is a lot of tea. I figure over the
years I’ve had tea equivalent to the volume of water in the Yangtze River pass through me. (And in much the same way.)
I also
give daily tea parties to all my friends. I have a separate tea
room set up with darling little tea items I’ve collected, like miniature
teapots and teabag lampshades. And all we have to do is drink, brew, drink
all day long. Sometimes its hard to tell when one party stops and the next
begins. On occasion, when some of the livelier ladies have attended, they’ve
turned into all day tea party sessions which, I’m ashamed to say, sometimes end horribly with my husband Herbert coming home to find tea bags strewn across the
floor, doilies stained, cups hanging from the chandelier, crumbs and cucumber
slices everywhere, and him forced to drive some of the women home, being far too on edge to drive themselves you see….
I’m not proud
of that and yet this only proves my love and desire for tea. And that is
why I have been compelled to create and devote a page to tea. Tea
is my life, and I’m happy to do it. I guess you could say "nirvana" to me would be a tub of Earl Grey and me bathing in it! Which brings us to our first question from a Mrs. Crawford in Wigan. How lovely. Very nice rugby team there, the Warriors, although I don't follow rugby much. No. I tend to follow the LFC. Love the Scousers. Huge Reds supporter. Nothing like 4 pots of PG Tips, large bag of Twiglets, and my man Sander Westerveld right there in front of me on the telly. Oh very lovely indeed... Yes, well let's see she asks:
"What is the difference between Green and Black tea?"
Well, interestingly
enough, I’ve found out a surprising fact. Previously I guess I “supposed”
that Black and Green tea were the products of different plants, but actually
I have learned that they are both prepared from the same plant. Isn’t that
interesting? I thought so. And for this information I only had to make
a few simple searches on the internet for "tea".
I’m a busy woman and
don’t have time to dilly-dally around at libraries looking up information anymore. The world is at our fingertips now with computers, you know, and hurray for that because it gives us more time for tea. Previously it would have meant wearing my largest dress to the library with hidden thermoses of tea strapped to my torso and small plastic containers of sarnies stuffed down my
tights to my knees. Then I was forced to find some secluded corner with
books on say "plows" or "salt water taffy", and stack books in castle-like formation just so that I could slyly carry on with my tea and sarnies unnoticed whilst doing my research. What a bother! And I never appreciated the whistles when I was spotted removing the containers either. But now its just point-click-cut-paste, Bob’s your Uncle, time for another cuppa!
Oh look
it is! So we’ll take a break here. Time to feel the rush of hot steam up the nose as I pacify the tastebuds with a nice Darjeeling! Herbert better be standing clear of the kitchen doorway! Until then this is Mrs. Herbert T. Eckpurt saying.. “Happy Steeping!”
Check out my Resource:
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http://www.whatstea.com
