tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4109157903763444447.post3762107429271451513..comments2023-10-18T12:55:50.552+00:00Comments on At Flores in the Azores: TeaNeil Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15567487892239196569noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4109157903763444447.post-14934089853065343402010-04-15T20:47:37.784+00:002010-04-15T20:47:37.784+00:00"For All the Tea in China / How England Stole..."For All the Tea in China / How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History" (book review by the WaPo's sublime garden columnist Adiran Higgins):<br />http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/26/AR2010032601989.html<br /><br />Actually, it was Scotsman Robert Fortune, not an Englishman.Kathiehttp://www.inolongerlikechocolates.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4109157903763444447.post-16401178965763052612010-03-04T03:28:37.371-01:002010-03-04T03:28:37.371-01:00I think tea preference may something imprinted in ...I think tea preference may something imprinted in childhood. One of my Azorean-American uncles was married for several years to a woman who was born in England, then when she was a tot her family immigrated first to British Columbia, Canada, then some years later across the border to northern Washington state in the US. Not surprisingly, my aunt-by-marriage drank tea the English way, with milk and sugar.<br /><br />When I was little my uncle and his wife lived just two blocks away from my household, so my family and theirs spent a fair amount of time together. Starting when I was maybe 6 or 7, whenever my mother and I went over there, my aunt would get out her best English bone china teapot, cups and saucers, and brew a big pot of loose black and orange pekoe tea (using a tea ball) for the three of us: no wimpy teabags for her!<br /><br />She'd always pour my cup of tea first so it would be the weakest -- "cambric tea," my mother called it -- dosed up with lots of milk and sugar. I felt so-o-o-o grown-up getting to use real china (instead of the unbreakable plastic cups that most people serve children) that I'd always be very careful so as not to break or chip my aunt's lovely china. So despite having at most 1/8 Anglo blood in my ancestry, I drink tea the standard English way (albeit stronger nowadays) with milk (not cream) and sugar!<br /><br />I made my first visit to the Azores as a tourist, so on my guided tour of São Miguel our group naturally stopped at the tea plantation in Maia so we could see the factory where the tea is raised and processed. While I was much impressed with the place, I confess I don't especially care for the flavor of their tea, and drink it only if there's no other option and I need to be polite. But given my druthers, I'd prefer a supermarket house brand, or a famous name-brand like Lipton, Tetley, Salada, Red Rose, etc.Kathiehttp://www.mycalifornianfriends.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4109157903763444447.post-33103192584075037222010-02-13T15:42:50.499-01:002010-02-13T15:42:50.499-01:00I totally disagree with you, and i'll prove th...I totally disagree with you, and i'll prove that your wrong.Marisanoreply@blogger.com