Tea for three: Alice reveals all about her morning brew

Ute, Jean and I regularly meet up to discuss what Attract Readers can create to make your blogs more successful.

And, of course, the inevitable cups of tea are passed around. It’s interesting that at these meetings we all opt for tea (or at least we did last time we met), but each of us prefer it made in a different way.

So we decided each of us should write a post describing our tea preferences and why. And here’s mine first:

How Alice likes her tea

I don’t drink tea or coffee with my breakfast (usually plain yoghurt with fruit and a glass of water). The reason is purely practical, arising from the repercussions of a long car commute to my last job, and in particular the comfort factor of sitting in a traffic jam.

But once I’ve switched on my computer for the day the tea urge comes upon me. It’s necessary on a cold day to get something warm inside you, to set you up for the morning.

Aristocratic tea

I have decaffeinated Earl Grey tea, extremely weak and without milk, and it has to be in a thin white china mug. There is something much more pleasing about thin white china. It’s the same as drinking milk from a glass tumbler or champagne from a crystal flute glass.

How my tea is made isn’t exactly what I originally preferred, but what is good for me. To watch my weight I need to avoid eating in between meals, and milk is considered a food, even in tea. It was difficult to adapt at first, but with perseverance I got used to it. Now I can’t have it any other way.

The longevity factor

Also, because I like my tea weak, this means I can use a tea-bag for almost a week before it becomes so diluted it is ineffectual. I remember my brother-in-law’s wife being totally shocked at this, she thought it was an extreme form of money-saving.

Well, this may be, but it is the only way to drink black tea. My mother brews her tea in a teapot, of course, but this means placing exactly 5 tea-leaves (no more or less) at the bottom of the pot before adding the boiling water. This produces it exactly how she likes it, hot water with a hint of tea. My husband calls it homeopathic tea.

Wouldn’t have it any other way

I have tried drinking other teas, but there’s something very pleasing about Earl Grey. I once got a fancy version from a little shop in Henley-on-Thames, loose Earl Grey combined with lavender flowers. It was quite exciting at first, but it did require one of those tea-leaf holders which got a bit fiddly and messy. And you can’t reuse it as frequently as a tea-bag!

Both my husband and daughter prefer builder’s tea, stuff so strong you can stand your spoon up in it. My son prefers very strong black coffee, which is even worse! However, because of this I know they won’t be stealing my Earl Grey, which means a box of tea-bags can last a very long time!