going potty
eleventh in a slightly bonkers (potty) series of Thursday posts about taking tiffin with (black) tea in the NW USA.
Thursday Tiffin #11: going potty
Lets take a moment to compare and contrast tea-taking experience in an American cafe diner with tea in an English cafe bar. There are outstanding specialist tea serving establishment in the NW US, we’ll cover these later. This summary if focused on commonly available eating extablishments.
In a NW American cafe you risk:
- no fresh milk
- an outrageously small tea pot if they have one
- only tea bags (not loose leaf tea)
- only one or two types of black teas (multiple infusions) – Liptons and Early grey
- hot not boiling water meeting the tea leaves
- bought to your table by a smiling server
In and English cafe you risk:
- a selection of teas (unlikely to have any fruit or herb infusions)
- tea bags, in some places they still serve loose leaves.
- Individual tea pots that pour well. A variety of teapot sizes are normally available to suit your group size.
“A pot for 4 please” is a reasonable request and normally catered for with a single pot of brewing tea for two and a second pot of hot water to ‘top-up’ the brewing tea.
- boiling water poured directly onto the leaves
- fresh milk in an individual container, tailored to the size of the tea party
- a supplementary pot of hot water to top-up your pot as you drink the tea
- no server
- staff smiles severely rationed
Have I missed anything? Take a look at a young happy Wendy bringing a pot of tea for two with a supplementary pot of hot water to the Barcelonean prince (photographer) on a sunny summer afternoon in ‘Hawkins’ an atmospheric Birmingham city cafe bar (1986)
The whole NW USA cafe, fast-food, reasonably priced eatery infrastructure does not support sharing tea. This lack of infrastructure makes the experience more of a trial rather than a pleasure.
Don’t go potty, seriously consider developing a taste for coffee, rather than Tea, in the NW USA
December 22nd, 2006
That’s quite possibly the most AWESOME belt of all time!
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