Wednesday, February 28, 2007

A Nice Pot of Tea Please!


I haven’t really had a rant for a long time, but yesterday I had cause to become very cross and frustrated.
Remind me of the Country I live in, England! The greatest tea-drinking nation of the modern world, so why can you not get a POT yes a pot of tea at most motorway service stations.

As a fully paid up member of our great tea drinking nation I never, ever, ever, make myself a cup of tea by dunking a tea bag in a cup of hot water, even if I make tea for myself it is made in a warm pot out of good quality tea bags such as Twinings. Made in the cup results in either a tasteless brew of hot milky water or if you let it stand too long, the bitter taste of tannin makes it equally unpalatable.

I had to drive to Newcastle (and back) in a day for a brief visit to do an inventory on a Franchisee about to sell her business, a total of almost nine hours driving. On the way back I needed a real cup of tea brewed in a pot, surely not much to ask. I walked into the service station to be met with the usual disgusting choice of fat calorie laden rubbish and two ‘Costa coffee’ bars. On the overhead price list I could have, Cappuccino, Macciato, Espresso, Double espresso, Americana, Mocha, the list was endless. At the bottom as an after thought was cup of tea, or a pot of tea. Hurrah! A pot of tea!
I duly ordered the what was becoming a medicinal need, my pot of tea.
“Sorry love, I can only do you a cuppa tea”
“But it says a pot of tea £2.25 up their and I can see you have tea pots under their”
“Yeah, but we don’t have any lids for the pots so health and safety means I can’t give you one” I was getting pretty cross now as I was tired and desperate.
“Look, I don’t want a tea bag dangled in one of your ridiculously enormous cups I want a pot of tea, surely you have a lid somewhere”

She was a little puzzled that I would make such a fuss over a teapot, but she sent another member of staff out to the kitchens to locate a lid. I eventually got my most delicious pot of tea, but why the upsurge in these ridiculous coffee’s in place of our national brew!

I also ate a chicken wrap and today I am laid up food poisoning! Just what did she put in that pot?

2 comments:

Devon said...

No more, no more, you are destroying my blissful visions of England!!!!

I suffer here in the USA as a tea drinker. No resturant in this country even owns a tea pot. They will bring you a mug of hot water and a basket with an assortment of herbal teas (lemon, orange, green tea, etc...). When I ask for milk or cream, they look confused and often ask, "really"!

Hope you are feeling better today!

Gavin and Emma Owen said...

An official memo has just come down from the Command Team at my division at work: Cups of tea are banned!

It's not quite as severe as it sounds but just as ludicrous.

We are no longer allowed to have a cup of tea before going out on patrol. Up until last Thursday we would start the shift with a briefing then followed by a brew - being the probationer on shift it was my job to ensure stocks of biscuits, tea bags and milk were maintained and was a great time for team bonding and intelligence sharing (gossiping).

But now those who sit in offices and are waited on for any cup of tea or filtered coffee they want, have said that we are not getting to enough incidents because of this tea-time.

How will we have a Canteen Culture if we are not allowed in the canteen!