wendy house

twenty-nineth in a series of  posts about taking tiffin with  (black) tea  in the NW USA Sweden.

Thursday Tiffin #29: tea drinking correlates with low  ovarian cancer  rates in Sweden

It’s disappointing that the BBC report implies that a correlation could be a causal link.   Drinking tea in Sweden may also correlate with some other factor,   e.g. drinking milk, that is actually causing  the reduced ovarian cancer rates measured in tea drinkers.   While the numbers of   women (60,000) tracked in the longitudinal  (1987 to 1990) research are impressive shere numbers alone cannot influnce whether it is possible to determine a causal link between ovarian cancer and tea drinking.  In a correlational research design your cannot conclude causality.   Full stop.   Period.  

twenty-eighth in a series of  posts about taking tiffin with  (black) tea  in the NW USA .

Thursday Tiffin #28: The bitterest pill (I ever had to swallow)

For those people that do not like to take their tea wet,   in water, infused,   my local Fridge supplies a dried, pill format.   It made me wonder how people ‘wash down’ the pill,   with a swig of water?   On the rare occassions I have to swallow something dry  I normally wash it down with a mug of Tea.

twenty-seventh in a  healthy series of  posts about taking tiffin with  (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #27: tea is  better than water

An allegedly  independent study funded by the UK Tea Council concludes that tea is better than water,   it does not  dehydrate,   it includes anti-oxidants and flouride and is good for your heart.    I bet that a Tea promotional organisation funded research project finds this positive effect of tea was an astounding suprise to  you,  my oh-so-clever readers

The BBC reports the research in an uncritical way that lacks details of how it was conducted thus hiding our ability to assess its virtue.   Here are some excerpts from the report:

Tea not only rehydrates as well as water does, but it can also protect against heart disease and some cancers, UK nutritionists found…     …Dr Ruxton said: Drinking tea is actually better for you than drinking water. Water is essentially replacing fluid. Tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so it’s got two things going for it. … …Tea drinking is most common in older people, the 40 plus age range. In older people, tea sometimes made up about 70% of fluid intake so it is a really important contributor,”

twenty-sixth in a  fluffy series of  posts about taking tiffin with  (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #26: hair it is

According to a recent BBC report,   Turkish researchers studied 21 women with unusually high testosterone levels. The     women drank 2 cups of spearmint tea a day over 5 days following which their  blood testosterone levels were re-checked.   Researchers concluded that “Drinking the tea twice a day, reduced levels of male sex hormones“.  

No wonder the US tea rooms are all so full of women,   they’re all trying to reduce their testosterone levels.   Why might women want to reduce their testosterone levels?   Reduced testosterone levels correlate with  reduced body-hair (face & chest),   hirsutism.  

Are the women in  US tea-rooms reducing their waxing costs and increasing their girliness quotients?   Clever.    IF you buy into the patriarchially determined fiction that women who remove their hair, waxing, shaving etc are more beautiful,   desirable,   valuable etc,   which of course is only true to the extent that people actually impose this discourse of hairlessness upon us.   This discouse  is much more oppressive here  in the US than in Europe or  the UK.   It’s pretty bad in the UK as illustrated by this doctors statement within the BBC article:

“Professor Richard Sharpe…     ….warned that women suffering from hirsutism… …needed proper medical treatment.”

Apparantly hair is a MEDICAL problem not a social value-set.  

Sigh.    

twenty-fifth in a  clean series of  posts about taking tiffin with  (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #25: char people

I have not heard the phrase char lady or any politically correct variation thereof, such as char people, in the NW USA.   The BBC has used it to refer to an Amercian  and a contemporary website has it advertised as a job-type.   At my place of work there are char people.    They do not  wear beautifully tied headscarfs,  bring a tea trolley  passed your office at 3.30pm,   have cigarettes hanging out of the side of their mouth or provide snippits of wisdom disguised in a subversively surly, morose, wrapping.    This wrapping isn’t widely available in NW USA workplaces.     Sigh.  

Two  of the definitions of char from Allwords.com  

1. To do paid cleaning work in someone’s house, an office, etc. (noun);   Etymology:   Anglo-Saxon cierran.

2. Slang for Tea (noun); Etymology: from chinese cha (20th century)

twenty-fourth in a  rosey series of  posts about taking tiffin with  (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #24: almost there; bar the roses

Elizabeth and Alexanders  is where I first encountered The Red Hat Society having an ‘event’ on a busy Saturday morning.   The tea rooms bustled as the serve staff quickly moved between customers and the kitchen.   Thank goodness that the  cackle in the red hats were ushered into a separate room.     Elizabeth and Alexanders is closer to my experience of standard tea rooms in the UK though still overdosing on ‘pink’ and ‘roses’ with an  all female clientelle.    

I ordered a “Ploughmans Lunch”   that arrived without  cheese,   chutney, ham or bap.   Uh?   Way too girly for any self-respecting ploughman,   tasty nonetheless.   The server had an English accent and found it  appropriate  to be way more tactile than I’m accustomed to in the US:

Wendy; I’d like the 6 cup pot of….
Server:   Assam? (touching my shoulder)
Wendy: Yes   (smiles)
Server:   With milk (smiles and rubs my arm)
Wendy:   Yes, please!

This is an ideal unpretentious place to stop by with a friend or two for peaceful conversation over a good cuppa (and get your arm felt-up).

 All examples here use a teabag in a mug with hotwater poured onto the bag.   The first photograph is in the kithcen of  a Portsmouth home.   Using a pint of semi-skimmed milk from Asda and a mug featuring St Georges cross in front of a glass electric kettle.

 This is on a beach in Cornwall near Cawsand.   3 mugs of tea and two mugs of chocolate for the short people.   An  inovative  water-boiling-on-the-beach contraption helped ensure the water was the right temperature for tea brewing.   Once the tea had brewed sausage sandwiches were made then we finished off with another cup of tea.   The perfect way to start and wrap-up a hike to the beach.

 This is from home in Bristol.   It’s the pre-breakfast table at 7am,   my first, second and third  cuppa of the day normally come from this productive little pot.   That is cup number 2 and I’m about to refill the pot with fresh tea for the biddies as they start to wake up and potter about.

twenty-fourth in a  pumped-up series of  posts about taking tiffin with  (black) tea  in the NW USA Bath UK.

Thursday Tiffin #24: Bath pump rooms

Outstanding tea experience without a sniff of a rose on the table,   table-cloth, wall-decorations or  wait-staff.   Live music from the grand Piano,   quiet conversation.   Scones with real clotted cream.   An extra pot of hot water,   refilled 2 times, 2 extra pots of tea suggested and bought by the wait-staff at no extra cost.   Nothing at all disrupted my first tea-out in the UK.    Built in 1785, Jane Austen lived in Bath and possibly took tea in the pump rooms.

On the way to Cornwall I stopped for Tea and a Pasty on the edge of Dartmoor.   Everything was comfortably as expected.   Pot of hot water,   pot of tea,   milk,   cup without any roses or pink on it,   see:
 

twenty-second in a  trendy series of  Thursday posts about taking tiffin with  (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #22: Remedy Teas.

Make sure you memorise the name otherwise you might end-up in the nearby  Teapot by accident.      Remedy Tea  is the best tea place I’ve visited in Washington State and, as you’ve noticed,   I’m Mrs Fussy McFussy when it comes to tea.

 Attentive knowledgeable service. I ordered Earl Grey tea and the waitress described the different  Earl grey options (black, red, green and white)   ‘What’s the difference?’   ‘Caffiene levels’   Now this I understand,   though I’ve forgotten which colour had more.   In the panic of too much choice I opted for the familairty of  black Earl Grey.    With over 150 different types of tea on offer their choice was impressive.    The venue had a very  modern stlysh ambience,  it fitted my stereotype of  YUPPY.    There were girls and boys here,   they looked NORMAL not just elderly women in silly hats,   I was probably the oldest person there and the only person in a silly (not red)  hat.

Bodum produced glassware with an insulating air layer  in the handleless cups.   The experience included  digital timers  to avoid stewing the tea and tea-lights to keep the unstewed tea warm. Heavenly.    Rows of test-tube containers that you could use to smell each tea before choosing what to purchase lined one wall.   The test-tubes were displayed in a decorative manner,   function and form combined stylishly ….mmmMMMMmmmm…..

We sat outside  without coats in January the week after ground snow.    I couldn’t use the traditional method of judging the tea’s temperature “can I hold the cup?” through the insulated cup  or use it to warm my hands.  ‘Cold finger!’.   After two cups  we went inside.  More wussy customers  wore scarves and coats on inside and were dressed in a stylish shade of black.

As standard in the US they didn’t offer milk.  I forgot to ask.   FORGOT.    I think I’m getting Americanized…..  oh my…  …need my trip back to the UK NOW*…    

Remedy teas recommended for a quality well delivered experience to people  under 60 of all genders  wearing black in a modern relaxed environment

*I am actually currently drinking tea with Mumzie and Dadsy at an undisclosed celebrity hide-away in England as I  start a rigorous re-English-ification course.  

twenty-first post in a  Thursday series of snoops into experiences of taking tiffin with  (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #21: secret garden  (conkers)

recommended venue for an atmospheric, private,  conversation with special friends or family over a good cup of tea and to stock up some sizable conkers.

1890′s Historically registered building.   For the US West coast that is REALLY OLD!   There are several huge old conker trees in the garden.   The ground is littered with conkers.    I rarely see conker trees in the puget sound region.   A habit left over from childhood, I placed a few big, heavy,  symmetrical conkers in my pocket, just incase…    

Inside,    high quality retro décor, not kitsch or overdone.   White table-clothes and napkins.   Antique furniture that is not ‘distressed’.   The establishment blends beautifully American and English tea taking ceremonies with excellent food in a tasteful, timeless ambiance.   Let me say ‘excellent food’ once again.   Prices are neither cheap  nor  exorbitant.   I had a large bowl of Coconut Chicken Lemon grass soup with a scone and a small pot of Darjeeling that came to about $10 including tax.

English

• clientele included men as well as women
• a jug of milk was offered before it was requested
• sugar-cubes in a bowl with tongs
• matching china crockery and pseudo-silver flatware
• soup served with an actual soup spoon

American

• The en-suite shop that sells quaint things, pink things and sparkly jewellery things
• A glass of iced water, regularly topped-up
• The scones (more like English rock cakes)
• wide choice of sugar substitutes in sachets on the table
• over 70 types of tea on a laminated plastic menu
• staff attentive and clearly amenable to customer requests not currently on the menu.   I overhead a customer asking for, and receiving,   iced tea.   In January.  

Those tiny imperfections that even an excellent establishment can have…they are trivial….

• small   (3 cups) stoneware (not china) pot with external tea leaf strainer, no extra pot of hot water provided.   I was offered a top-up for the existing pot with stewed leaves.   Yuck.
• multiple paintings of roses (all shades of red-pink) and FAKE flowers on tables
• 30 mins or more drive from Downtown Seattle into small-towns-ville.  
• it’s popular,   you should book in advance

twentieth post in a  Thursday series of  unexpectedly girly experiences of taking tiffin with  (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #20: barbie doll’s tea convetion

The Peach tree tea rooms and bakery  provides an American style interpretation of English tea.  Excellent cakes & service for females with disposable income.  A Tea-lunch order cost $19.00.  Cheaper than Queen Mary’s, much  better quality cake in slightly less ostentacious surroundings of a similar style.      

The tea rooms are based in the “Country Village” a stylish outdoor Mall of higgledy-piggeldy dark-wood buildings housings shops in Bothell.  The shops sell things to people with disposable income (art, non-mass produced furniture,  pottery shops,  candle-shops etc).  A gang of mallard ducks roam the Mall, intimidate the grannies, entertain the short people,  and splash in the Mall pond.  A cockerel strutted and cock-a-doddle-doo’d.   A pleasant atmosphere,  like a step into a sanitised ‘old west’ theme park with shops hidden in the buildings.  

 The clientelle in the tea shop were all female and ranged in age from approximately 12yrs to my 43yrs,  the majority looked to be in their 30s.  I could overhear all the conversations on tables near me.    This is not a place to come for a confidential conversation with a special friend.  

At the next table were 4 girls of different generations dressed in baby-pink with sequins and sparkly accessories.  4 barbie dolls.  If you want to ‘do’ barbie doll,  this is definitely a place to come.

The servers were excellent,  providing milk,  topping-up my pot,  timely removal of  used crockery and cutlery, inobtrusive yet friendly.  The biggest down-side of this place as a Tea room was that the strainer was for use as the tea is poured.    This is actually authentic to many English tea rooms.  The critical downside was that by the time I started my second cup the tea had already stewed to a tannine-heavy bitter flavour.  The server topped my pot with water,  but it was too late the tea had already stewed.  I toyed with asking for another pot but decided against it because I’d probably be charged.  Only one unstewed cup of tea per pot is rather poor show for a tea rooms.

If you’re not yet old enough,  or affluent enough, to fit into the Queen Mary Tea rooms then this Tea rooms provides you with an ideal training step with the added bonus of providing a potential Barbie-alike  experience  opportunity

nineteenth in a  hat wearing  series of  Thursday posts about taking tiffin with  (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #19: red hat society.

What is the Red Hat Society?   According to their official website:

“The Red Hat Society began as a result of a few women deciding to greet middle age with verve, humor and elan. We believe silliness is the comedy relief of life, and since we are all in it together, we might as well join red-gloved hands and go for the gusto together. Underneath the frivolity, we share a bond of affection, forged by common life experiences and a genuine enthusiasm for wherever life takes us next.”

What do they do?   According to their offifical website:

Nothing

To me they represent a celebration of decadence.   They get dressed up and go to tea rooms.   This society, these ladies, encapsulate my main experience of USA versions of English tea rooms.   Luckily there are exceptions.   Possibly the society is the main target customer for the establishments I’ve found.    The dominant theme is  that taking tea is merely  something frivolous that only women to do, surrounded by flowers and small cute pink things.   To me this theme is a limited and unappealing experience.   Obivously, I am not, and have no intention of becoming a member of the red hat society.   It distrubs me that  superficially I have a lot in common with their membership:  a female in the USA,    approaching 50,   having distinctly silly tendencies, owning more than one red hat and requiring an almost constant supply of tea.   A  glance  at this local gathering of the society partially reassures me that my deportment visually distinguishes  me from these ladies.

My understanding of taking tea is broader than  the main theme  I’m  seeing in  USA English-style tea rooms.    My understanding involves the taking of tea being the back-drop to worthy thought and deed.   In my fertile, inaccurate,  imagination I picture Einstein with a cup of tea while developing relativity theory,   Mozart with a cup of tea while composing the magic flute,  Churchill with a cup of tea while planning the Normandy invsions,   Nick Cave while composing a love song, Aristotle with a cup of tea in the bath…  

eighteenth in a  royal series of  Thursday posts about taking tiffin with  (black) tea  and milk in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #18: Queen Anne’s TeaCup.

Excellent.  On a snow-ridden Sunday afternoon I drove to Queen Annes and enjoyed a fabulous cup of tea inbetween freezing fingers of air winding thier way around my legs, ears and not-insubstantial nose.  

Wendy:    I’d like a big pot of darjeeling
Server-1: (hesitate)
Wendy:  4 to 6 normal cups?
Server-1: (hesitate) 36 oz?
Server-2: Would this pot be the right size (holding up an ideal size pot)
Wendy: Yes please!
Server-2:  there’s only the one seat available,  we’ll bring it over to you
Wendy: that’s wonderful, could I have a jug of milk too?
Server-2: what type?
Wendy: 2%?
Server-2: Fine, we’ll bring it over to you

The teapot arrived with timer to enable me to judge the brew effectively,  tea-cosey to ensure the tea didn’t get cold, dish to place the removed  strainer of tea-leaves  in,  spoon to stir in my dash of milk.  Excellent attention to detail,  fabulous smooth sympathetic service.    I was impressed.

Unlike the Queen Mary tea rooms the clientelle were varied age and gender.    Hoorah! On this Sunday they looked like students with paper note-books open (no wireless, no laptops).   While mixed gender the men did fit into my stereotype of  effeminate. One sat in my line of sight constantly  played with his gold necklet,   discussed the quality of his manicure with his colleagues and regularly re-adjusted his hair and clothing.   Overheard conversations  from beside me also fitted my stereotype of Americanisms;   I heard phrases like “so,  I  said…. …it was really cool…   …mMMMMmm-Kay…   …I totally agree with you…     ….I have to get me some of that…  ”  

The venue is small maybe seats 12 at most if they are all slim and breath in.    The counter at the back of the shop.  It’s a popular shop,  people are constantly coming and going,   buying loose leaf tea and accessories.  On this snow-ridden January day the shop door opened every 2 or 3 minutes.  Everytime a customer opened the door the fast freezing finger of January snow twisted around my thighs, yanked my ears and tweaked my not insubstantial nose.  It is impossible to relax and fully enjoy your tea when the freezing fingers are regularly poking around, breaking the serene atmosphere that should surround the taking of tea.

recommended for people who are already in the area to drop in and see if there’s a table free for a quick cuppa

seventeenth in a  filtered series of  Thursday posts about taking tiffin with  (black) tea  and milk in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #17: straining equipment

One of the key stages in making Tea is removing the Tea leaves after the brew is complete before the mixture stews.   A variety of utensils,   strainers, have been developed to achieve efficient drip-free removal of the tea leaves from the hot water.   In the Wendy house I will use the :

• tongs:   when its just me,   I use a set of tongs to remove a teabag from my pot.   I rarely make tea in a cup or mug merely because  the shere volume of Tea I consume requires the use of a pot.      
• small infusion ball:   Rarely used,  the tea cannot circulate in the ball    I have to manually  ’swish’ the ball of tea through the hot water in the cup or mug.
• large infusion ball:   When its just me,   with loose Tea, I’ll use a Tea pot with the large  infusion ball.   This supports my drinking from the pot for  longer than  6 minutes without the tea stewing.
• tea-strainer:   when using loose Tea with guests  I will normally use a tea pot with the tea-strainer (right hand side).   This removes the tea leaves as the tea pours.   The disadvantage is that the tea must all be poured within the 3-6 minutes recommended for brewing time.  

I may even splash out on a  ’Chatsford’ strainer for use in a pot.   I’ve heard good things about them.   All these utensils allow the removal of the Tea leaves before the brew has stewed.   Awesome inventions!

In the Teapot Vegetarian house, by accident, I ordered a pot of Orange Spice tea.

Server: it will be a small pot for one

My heart drooped.   Small?!   No, no, no, I need multiple cups. The server was so well mannered,   I didn’t want to ask for something they might not have,   he must know best.   I respected his knowledge and held my tongue.

Wendy: That’s fine

Small pot was no understatement.   It smelt delicious.   No milk.   I didn’t ask for milk. I decided to take the experience as delivered and this was obviously an oriental tea house where milk is probably inappropriate.   Curious about the lack of a tea strainer  I lifted the lid on the pot to inspect the straining mechanism.   As I lifted the lid the spout spontaneously ejaculated a spurt of tea.   I smiled.  

Pleasant,  sensor rubble,  memories.     See the wet-patch?    No-one will be sleeping on that.

Even better,   the server refilled the pot with hot water as needed.   He did, indeed, know best.   No milk needed, no big pot needed.  I suspect I’m being weened off my working class English tea taking ways…

sixteenth in a  series of  Thursday posts about taking tiffin with  (black) tea  and milk in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #16 kitsch tea rooms

Promised Ostentatiousness:   A local guide lists a number of ‘top spots’ for taking tea in the NW USA.   It cites the ‘Queen Mary Tea room’ as a top spot.   Evidently it’s the ‘perfect place to hold your next baby or bridal shower’   Because, this being the US,  you will need  more than one bridal shower in your lifetime and you will be dropping dozens of sproggs, its your US patriotic duty to be a one-woman baby factory.    You’ll need plenty of tea to shower the brood with.   According to the website your  guest of honour gets to be ‘Queen for a day’.   I can just feel the Britishness oozing out of their ostentatious advertizing material,   can’t you?      

Girl zone: On your behalf I ventured into this den of inequiTEA.   It was packed  with women who looked older than me,    past baby-dropping age,  probably on their third or forth wedding.   Probably ‘regulars’.   Their hair neatly bouffed,   their earrings matching ironed blouses.   Not a nose-stud or jaunty hat in sight (except mine).

Pricey:   The decorative style could be called ‘Victorian clutter’,   but more accurately described as American kitsch-cute-clutter.   The theme of bone china  and teapots provided the main concession to a British angle.     I swallowed my bile and reached  for the menu.   An impressive  menu in tea selection and prices.  There is a minimum charge of $10.00 per person.   A single pot of tea cost $4.99. I ordered the standard afternoon tea ($24.99 per person).    Silly me, I  made the risky assumption that my tea would come with milk.   Eventually I caught the busy,   polite,  server’s (female) eye to request milk.  

 Cold tea: Another server (female) explained the difference between brewing and stewing to the ladies on the table next to me.   I was impressed,   she managed the explanation without using any of these words:   stew, brew, steep or  tannin.   No small achievement.   When the server (female) bought my pot of Tea she explained that I should wait between 3 and 5 minutes before removing the leaves from the pot.   Good advice,   difficult to follow because  I have no watch and  no timer was provided.   Luckily I know how to judge a brew based on smell and look.   Saved!   The filter for the tea-leaves was not designed for the pot shape.   The lid was jauntily placed, like my hat, on the filter.   I looked around and all the teapots in the place were like this.   The filter was packed with tea leaves.   I tried to jiggle the filter to facilitate water flowing over the tea.   There wasn’t enough room.   I tried picking up the pot and creating a circular movement to encourage a flow of tea around the pot.   People looked at me,   eye’s scorched pathways into my un-matching earrings and jumper.     Eventually the colour looked good and I removed the filter containing the leaves.   The pot was sufficiently ‘cool’ to hold in my hands.   I contemplated asking for a tea cosey.   Checking the other tables there were no tea cosey’s in sight.   Frankly,   call me pathetic,   I was too intimidated by the clientelle and overly busy servers (all female)  to ask for a tea-cosey.   Sigh.   I drank my almost cold tea,   it tasted excellent,   would have tasted better at an appropriate temperature.   I don’t think they warmed the pot,   and  I wasn’t bought, or offered the opportunity to have a pot of hot water to top-up.

Mixed food quality:   The food that came with the Tea was a mixed affair.   The sorbet’s were excellent.   The flatware provided to eat the sorbet was a tea-spoon.   Huh?   that’s highly inappropriate for a quality tea rooms.    It’s an example of the American ‘kitchness’ that oozed throughout this place.   Having quarterized crumpet.   What the?!   Very dry and totally missing the sumptuousness that is the crumpet.   I couldn’t even bring myself to eat this.   The scone was an American scone.   American scones are triangular rather than oval and more akin to British Rock cakes than English scones.   The fresh fruit was wonderful and the cake was pretty tasty.

Would I go again?   Yes!   to try the other  teas and remind myself of the unique, strange, US girly,   atmosphere.   The atmosphere actually grew on me.   On return visit I’ll  be more assertive and ask for the pot to be warmed,  a tea cosey and a supplementary pot of hot water.   Wild eh?   I’d quite like to take a group of boys in there just for the hell of it what will boy-pheromones do to the atmosphere?   I’m that kind of rebel.   Hurrah!

Queen Mary Tea house is a  good place to occasionally take, or eye-up, elderly US girlies (if that’s what you like)

When trying-out a new Tea venue I normally take a quick look at the place name and memorize it’s location as a road junction then swing on out there in LooSea. This strategy has served me well,   until today.   Two tea places in the same building,   is Seattle.   Hardly what a girl is expecting.   I’d arranged to meet Jenn at one of them.   Remedy teas.

I went into the wrong one.  The Teapot.  After two pots of excellent Orange Spice tea, without milk or company,  I left.   I stopped to take a photograph of the building  on the way out.  That’s when I noticed my mistake,   can you see it?   Teapot on the left,   Remedy Tea  on the right.    I meekly wandered over  to “Remedy teas”.  

Jenn  in black and the torture victim were sitting outside.   In January,  outside, a week after snow-fall, without coats.     Washington State locals are really rufty-tufty.    Jenn’s ‘Loser’ handbag was definitely pointing at me under the table.   How did she know in advance? They were very forgiving about my missing the place first time and let me join them for another pot of Tea and a waitress interview.  

After  three pots of tea I only used the ‘restrooms’ once,   my bladder is under tight control.   The restrooms also helped me with a poster describing the six-stages of  ’how to wash your hands’ with pictures.    Now I know.   Good job I’ve got that little skill sorted now. It should prevent all sorts of unplanned nastiness.

fifthteenth in a  series of  Thursday posts about taking tiffin with  (black) tea  and milk in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #15 Tea in Panama

Panama:  The Panama canal was a significant engineering achievement sponsored by the Americans and French prior to WW1.   The Panama Hotel dates back to the 1920′s and is based in what has become Seattle’s ‘International’ district.   The Hotel’s Tea rooms provide a pleasant mix between oriental and English tea customs.   The tea was well made, not stewed, plentiful and upon request an appropriate jug of milk was supplied.

Goodnesses:   I had advertised that I would be loitering in this Tea house on a Sunday afternoon at 3pm to 12 or so favourite people.   To my enthusiastic suprize 8 people* turned up to join in.   We were able to arrange to sit around one ‘coffee’ table and share conversation.   This made the afternoon really enjoyable.     The tea prices were reasonable at  $6.00 for a pot of at least 6 cups of tea and some classic (Darjeeling) and interesting (lavendar flavoured) choices.   Yummy,   naturally I finnished off one pot of Darjeeling  all on my own and managed to scrounge cups from friends’ pots!   The Tea house provides free wireless access,   there were groups of people with Tea and Laptops opened on long tables.   The rest rooms were very stylish,   though difficult to spot from the outside,   not labelled.   I accidentally walked into the broom cupboard,   perversely this was actually a highlight for me,   giggling in the broom-cupboard bought back lots of fun memories.   The clientelle looked mainly,   but not solely, Asian and of varied age maybe 20 through to my 43yrs.   Girls and ….boys….   and sometimes it was difficult to guess….

Discomforts:   these were miner,   I feel a bit churlish even mentioning them.  The shiney wood floors and some of the hardwood seats gave the place aslightly cold, uncomfortable edge.   I kept my coat on to stay warm and was lucky enough to find a seat on a soft sofa.

Panama Hotel Tea rooms are  a  good place  for a reasonably priced and brewed hot tea in a relaxing environment conducive to good conversation irrespective of age and gender

* People included:   LaCroix, Raymond, NitwitOddment, Mark, The CultFigurine, the DevilsGulch.   No-one was a post-menopausal woman (not even me!) consequently several people risked taking milk in our tea,   Hoorah!   I even put milk in my Darjeeling….   just a comforting ‘dash’…

forteenth in  decision challenging Thursday posts about taking tiffin with (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #14 got heart?

The BBC reports the shocking news that semi-skimmed milk (US = 10%) in Tea can prevent  the postive effect that drinking Tea can have on your heart.   Evidently the researchers can make this assertion based on a ‘very complex’ study of 16 people (post menopausal women) and some rat-tissue.   Hmmmmm…      I think that  June Davison, a  cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, is using the understatement to full effect:

“It is difficult to say from this small study the impact of adding a drop of milk to your tea can make.”

Drink tea without milk AND enjoy it?   Oh my,   horrid, horrid thought.   I  am not alone in my preference for a dash of milk in my tea according to this BBC report:

“It is estimated as many as 98% of UK tea-drinkers prefer milk in their favourite cuppa“

I need to keep my calcium intake  high  to avoid post menopausal osteoporosis.

thirteenth in a  confusingly colourful series of  Thursday posts about taking tiffin with (black, white, green, red) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #13 confusing colour tea taxonomy

• Red tea:   According to Wikipedia red tea is actually black tea,   with the exception of the South African Rooibos which isn’t actually a tea, just as herbal and plant infusions are not actually teas.    
• Green tea:   According to Wikipedia black tea is a type of Green tea.   I think that makes Darjeeling a green tea that is a black tea and also a red tea.   But I can’t be certain because I’m ever-so-slightly CONFUSED.
• White tea: According to Wikipedia white tea is often a subset of juvenile  green teas   before  they’ve matured into green. It looks like Ceylon tea can be black, red and white all at the same time.  
• Black tea: according to wikipedia black tea is the true tea and different from green tea.   It’s not clear if Black and Green teas are mutually exclusive categories.   The phrase black tea is used to refer to tea that doen’t have milk mixed with it.   This could include Green teas.   Before I came to the US the phrase black tea meant ‘without milk’   now I know better.   Now I know enought to know that I’m CONFUSED.

I have to say that the colour based categorisation isn’t really working for me.   Excel has kindly offered to work on producing a chart  that makes the whole colourful tea experience more Wendy-friendly.  

Hurrah!

twelfth in a  controversy touching series of  Thursday posts about taking tiffin with (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #12 milk in first?   (MIF)

Lets start by assuming you have a pot of brewed, not stewed, tea a china cup and some real milk.    As we have established this may not always be possible because one or several of the required utensils or ingredients may well be missing in a NW USA homestead or diner.  

What next?   Do you pour the tea into the cup then add the milk or do you pour the milk into the cup then add the tea?   This is a none-trivial and highly controversial step in the tea making process.   There is a class based distinction aligned with the choice to put the Milk in first.   Traditionally only lower classes put the milk in first.   It is a sign of good breeding (classiness) to pour the tea into the cup and then add the milk.   Obviously,   I discovered this the hard way when pouring tea for someone who knew better and kindly pointed out my ill-bread ways.   The term MIF is used as a derrogatory referent to people,   indicating their lack of refined manners.   The classic text on experiemental design (Fisher, 1935)  uses an example of a person who could determine from the taste of the tea whether the milk had been put in first.

The Dailey Telegraph (Tabloid)  reports that scientists have solved the MIF controversy  based on taste (of the tea).   Excerpts:

The finding that a cuppa tastes better if the tea is poured on to the milk appeared to have settled a debate that has long preoccupied a nation of tea drinkers.

However, only hours after the Royal Society of Chemistry unveiled its findings amid the sort of secrecy usually reserved for the Budget, a row was brewing within the scientific community.  

The Royal Society of Chemistry results reported suggest that a good cup of tea requires:

using soft water, warming the pot before filling and allowing the tea to brew for three minutes. It was also essential to use loose-leaf Assam tea rather than tea bags – “they slow down the infusion”.

This report has not solved the controversey.   The Daily Telegraph article  quotes a phycisist as citing reasons of wealth  determining whether the milk is poured before or after the tea:

Putting the milk in first was a cultural quirk that “has nothing to do with taste”, she said. “It is a habit we have retained from the times when only the rich could afford porcelain which, because it isn’t as porous as china, could withstand the hot tea being poured in directly.   “Those of us with cheap china had to put the milk in first to cool the tea slightly to prevent our cups cracking.”

In a school leaving Physics examination (Oxford University, 1980,  GCE  ’O’ level) I completed a question that used adding milk to tea as a way of assessing my understanding of “Specific Heat Capacity“.   It seems that English Physicists and Chemists have been emboiled in this debate for a long time.  The issues appear to be:

Milk in first advantages:    reduces the liklihood of cracking a non-china cup,   pleases members of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Tea in first  advantages:   the milk is less likely to curdle, people with good breeding will recognise your good taste,   has the George Orwell seal of approval.

Given the strong opinions and class related issues surrounding this decision when pouring tea on behalf of an English person it is wise to ask “milk in first?” before pouring.    Of course I may have got this slightly wrong, maybe you should ask “Tea in first?“,   maybe you should ask if they are a Physicist or Chemist first.   Gosh it’s all so complicated.        

Wendy recommends that you ask the tea drinker if they want their ‘milk in first’ before pouring tea on their behalf.

Disclaimer:   Dr. Wendy  accepts no responsibility for any offence or heated arguments caused by asking guests ‘Milk in first?“

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

tenth in a  ceremonious series of  Thursday posts about taking tiffin with (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #10 Will you be mum?,

Lets start by assuming you have a pot of brewed, not stewed, tea a china cup and some real milk.  As we have seen  it may not always be possible because one or several of the required utensils or ingredients may well be missing in a NW USA homestead or diner.  

What next?    The  holder of the tea ceremony,  host*, normally pours the tea on behalf of the guests.   In the English working and middle-class circles I  grew up with** it  was possible to offer the honourable role to another guest by asking

“would you like to be mum”.  

The offer is a generous one.   As if anyone could replace a real mum!   With this phrase the host conveys trust that the person can pour tea for the guests and distribute the filled cups with suitable polite conversation and without spilling a drop in the process.   A shy person might decline the offer,   a person with great respect for the social skills of the actual host might decline the offer,   someone like me who might miss the cup or spill a drop from the spout while pouring will decline the offer.   Just that the offer was made is flattering.   While in the USA I’ve never actually got to the point where enough of the pre-requisites are in place that I can offer the role to another person.   My tea pots are all tricky little devils that need practiced skills to pour well.   I couldn’t offer the role to a guest because I would be setting them up to spill the tea and that just wont  do,   that’s mean and devious.    A Brit could look at the shape of the spout,   the proportions of the pot and quickly adapt to the peculiarities of my pot.   Here my pots are not sufficiently usable by a novice, I must fix that and a screw driver wont help.    Oh my gosh,   please warn me if I sound a tad too much like Martha Stewart,   it’s frightening.

Assume that when in the NW USA the locals will not understand the implications of being asked if they want to ‘be mother’.

* intended as gender non-specific use of the term.

** Disclaimer:   I have not investigated aristocratic tea practices.    Aristocratic tea practices may involve behaviour codes  that I have not acquired.

nineth  in a culturally significant Thursday series about taking tiffin with (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #9:  the non-trivial question

The none trivial question was directly phrased  in the fifth post ‘got milk?’.   Why is this question non-trivial?   In the UK (black)  tea is always served with milk available.   The drinker may choose not to take the milk but it should always be there.   Milk,   not cream.   This is taken for granted in the UK.

The question of availability of milk becomes particularly complex in the US,   more so in the NW USA where the infrastructure for supporting coffee drinking culture clearly takes priority.   In my early experiences of asking for black tea in the homes of NW US people I was absolutely astounded by several people that did not have any milk in their fridges!   They had ’50:50′,   this is 50% milk,   50% cream often called ‘half and half’ which makes good latte coffees.   Milk in the US is complicated,   they do not use the UK standard descriptions of ‘skimmed’, ‘semi-skilled’ and  ’full cream’.   They have a whole different labelling system.   2%  is approximately equivalent to  semi-skimmed,  50:50 is more creamy than full cream, I haven’t worked out the others.   It’s all too scarey.

In diners and cafe’s your black tea bags next to your basket of individually wrapped tea bags, including multiple infusions, will not arrive with milk.   This is standard.   If you ask for milk they look perplexed and they improvise.   I’ve been given individual UHT milk packets,   packets of ‘half and half’  and powdered coffee creamer.   Absolute nightmare.   You need to specify 2% milk.   They may not be able to fulfill this request,   you are a difficult customer because you are one they might not be able to please.   Ouch.  

You need to anticipate that  the tea provider will not necessarily be prepared with  an appropriate milk for an English style black tea,  ask what types of milk they have.

eighth in a  tea-tall-ate-ing series of  Thursday posts about taking tiffin with (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #8:  steeping, brewing or heaven forbid, stewing

The fantastic inter-web provides many sets of  instructions on  the ‘right’ way  to make a good pot of black tea.   These instructions fit with my cultural practice.   This set of instructions provided by Betty Crocker  (great name) or this set provided by a website called the ‘teatable’ are good examples.  The teatable instructions are more thorough.   Even George Orwell produced an 11 point set of guidelines for producing the perfect cuppa*.   The BBC reports an evaluation of George Orwell’s approach, 4 excerpts:

 The great critic of Hitler and Stalin, was not above a bit of teatime Totalitarianism himself, it seems. Orwell said that tea – one of the “mainstays of civilization”

the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has decided to look at his 11-point formula – and rubbish a good many of his supposedly “golden” rules.

The RSC brew uses Indian Assam tea leaves, which falls within Orwell’s tight stipulations. He said no other nation’s tea made him feel “wiser, braver or more optimistic”

the RSC recommends that the perfect cup of tea made by following its formula should be drunk while reading George Orwell’s account of 1930s drudgery and vagrancy Down and Out in Paris and London

The Royal society of Chemistry goes on  to suggest some improvements to the tea making process.   Hooray!   Chemists researching something really worthwhile that can impact so many people’s  everyday life,   excellent,   keep it up fellows**.   Study this article carefully because after we have progressed from brewing to pouring the Tea we will be returning to explore the infamous ‘milk in first’ issue in a later post.   How can you contain your enthusiasm,   its all tooo exciting.   More tea!   Back to brewing….

‘Steep’ is another term for ‘brew’, the period when the flavour from the leaves infuses into the water without ‘stewing’.   Stewing is  when the flavour becomes too strong to be pleasant,   its a fine line,   3-6 minutes is the guideline I work with.   Too long and you’ve stewed the tea,   adding more hot water can stew the tea. Technically this means that the tea,   in hot water, has released too much tannin which makes  the flavour somewhat bitter even if diluted.  No. Don’t do it.

Do not assume that a NW USA person has any understanding of the critical role that brewing, not stewing,  takes in getting the flavour just right.

* cuppa = common slang for ‘cup of tea’,   the word tea is implied because realistically  what else could you possibly want to drink from a cup?   The ‘cup of’ when pronounced with a southern British regional  accent sounds like ‘cuppa’.

**non-gender specific use of the word intended.

Please use this taxonomy of typographical balls-ups  with care.   Excel said it could break or get extended through use.   The taxonomy below is illustrated with sample sets  of miss typed words collected from numerous emails sent  by me  last week,   genuine Wendy miss-types!:

1.     Wronk key:

• w (a)
• nest (next)

2.     Missd key:

• wre (were)
• viru (virus)
• could (couldn’t)

3.     Mixed words while writyping:

• quesries (questions-queries)

4.     Miss placed lettres

• Karam (karma)  
• waer (wear)

5.     Miss spelled (repeatedly)

• desert (dessert)

6.     Miss Teary:

• thatnou (thankyou)
• change (chance)

7.     Sounds like (phonological replacements)

• none! tee-hee,  you weren’t expecting that now were you?   Neither was I!

8.     Doouble letter score (updated to add this category on 9th Dec 2006 after watching a presentation with the following typo’s)

• grrew (grew)
• quantiitatively (quantitatively)
• thee (the)

Using the spell-checker effectively and proof reading do not rank highly as core Wendy skills.   Lack of an example of a phonological replacements (e.g. replacing there with  their) is an extremely  unusual omission from this week’s emails.    Falling-over and making a good English style cuppa tea are, by contrast,  core Wendy skills.

seventh in a  wanton-tea orgy of  Thursday posts about taking tiffin with (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #7:  loose tea

The Perennial tea shop in the Pike Place market is  a decidedly bounce-inducing  pleasant suprise.   Especially pleasant for someone who likes to wave her not insubstantial nose over the leaves while inhaling before prising open her wallet.   Me. The leaves can be seen, smelt and ordered by weight.   This is infinitely  more sensuous than the Republic of Tea boxes laden with fancy words and bright colours selling a lifestyle dream rather  than an aromatic experience.  

Loose tea just sounds so wonderfully naughty,   how can you resist?

No prizes for guessing where I opened my wallet…

Remember that you can find quality good teas in big city specialist shops within the NW USA.   All is not lost!

sixth  in a  tea-tonic-tastic Thursday series about taking tiffin with (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #6:  get what you need

The “Republic of Tea” has taken breadth of  tea selection marketing and packaging to new frontiers.   Here’s one of their stands in my local Fridge,   advertising teas to fulfill your health needs:

Fulfulling health needs is a high profile marketing line, discourse,  in the US.   These Teas are advertised for helping you get clear skin, ‘regularity’, sleep, energy and more.   Tea,   the ultimate tonic,   cures everything and comes in a pretty box with a catchy tag line.   Woo…     …how did I resist this?   am I getting what I need without this?  I think so….

Remember that purchasing Tea in NW USA is a complex process where the actual (black) teas can be obfuscated by the fancy marketing ploys.

fifth in a  tea-riffic Thursday series about taking tiffin with (black) tea  in the NW USA.

Thursday Tiffin #5:  got milk?

In a Seattle diner the tea arrived as a bottle of hotwater and an individually wrapped  tea-bag.   I quickly unwrapped the bag and put it in the clear,  hot water, jug.   I had to ask for milk.   NW US Americans do not generally drink their infusions tea  with milk.   This default is extrapolated to black tea, they don’t anticipate that (black) tea requires milk.   Really, no milk,  it’s quite outrageous, you have to learn to live with this widespread lack of civilisation and its tough.   But then,   this is the wild west so we have to make some allowances.

Later we’ll touch on what happens after you’ve asked for milk.   Start quivering with trepidation….. ….NOW!    

The useful point to remember is that

in  NW US America you normally  have to request milk.