Greetings all!

From the Official UK Tea Correspondent

Our friend in SF, Karen, kindly added me officially to the Tea Exchange. This means I can now also wax lyrical about mildly-flavoured hot water whilst dreaming about sipping that refreshing brew... (sorry, UK spellings may now invade the blog!)

I must introduce myself at this point: My name is Thomas and I am a young fella from the old country who bumped into that delightful Californian young lady at university. We spent many strange but delightful evenings singing in a choir together and discussing goodness-knows-what. She since then introduced me to her online masterpiece of literature called a "tea blog". Having grown up fuelled by the liquid gold, I offered my services in rendering a British note to the page.

So here I am, offering to write about what is basically a hot drink. I must be mad, but hey, if you're reading it, you're probably a bit mad too! Onto the drink itself...

Ok, soon. Strangely I have spent my last three summers serving reallllly good (local!) ice-cream and waxing lyrical over that, so I have some experience on cheerful flowery writing. However I don't think Butterscotch and Almond afternoon tea, or Choc Fudge Brownie Earl Grey will quite go down in most places, so some adaptation may be required. On the other hand, maybe some ice-cream flavours would work...

Perhaps a delicate lavendar tea would be good, or for a winter warmer a Christmas pudding tea? Licorice black tea is also another I've seen and tasted - odd but pleasant. Tequila and lime white tea could perhaps help celebrate new year, whilst an iced raspberry, strawberry or even lychee green tea would be a wonderful celebration of summer.

Beyond that, I get a little stuck. How, for example, do you combine tea with ice cream of such flavours as Rocky Road, Choc Fudge Brownie or even Coffee? Well the last one is probably a bit OTT, but the rest would be a challenge. If anybody comes up with ideas for how to combine any of the ice-cream flavours I scoop by the way (at http://www.ronaldo-ices.co.uk/napoli.html) then please let me know!

Back to the hot liquid in hand - or not, as I haven't, although it'll be nice when I do - I went to sleep last night thinking about tea, the taste of it in my mouth, not quite awake enough to get downstairs and press the button on the kettle. It's strange, the cravings that come in the night.

Well, I have many teas to peruse and report on later, from Rooibos to Lapsang Suchong and more besides, plus oddities I have noticed about tea, how to brew a better cuppa and my life as a teabag. No, guide-dog. Tea-pot. Anyway, that's for later. For now, know that I'm a bit crazy (aren't we all?), erratic, spontaneous, eccentric, British and, of course, a tea-lover.

Warm tasty steaming greetings to you all from over the Pond then (if you're that side of it!) and until next time enjoy a cuppa!

Your UK correspondent,
Thomas


"... no obvious nutritional value. Mildly stimulating, some say, and with a taste one not so much likes, as gets used to."
- Willis the martian's views on tea, Willis is Barking. (Tina Pepler BBC radio play, 1993)