"Kings Cross Pond"

Why did I choose today to finally get down to writing about tea? This has much to do with my reflections on how, where and when I have taken tea this week other than in my home or at my desk at work. These reflections do connect with failed attempts to find tea in service station garages; where the only option was the Costa Coffee Express machine where hot water and a token pyramid shaped teabag were not even on offer.  This did cause me to question what has happened to the culture of tea drinking that I understood to be so British; but ultimately something about this week just made me finally start to write about the Tea Experience.

This week I have taken tea in: restaurants, cafes, outdoors and indoors. I have drunk tea made from fresh leaves and tea made from tea bags from: China cups, Glass Cups and Cardboard Cups. What draws me to write is that on each and every occasion, the context in which the tea was taken made each cup of tea memorable. My week of tea went something like this:

Cup One: Following an exhilarating swim at the Kings Cross Pond (http://www.kingscrosspond.club) referred to as “an art installation you can swim in,” which was a very new experience, the question of where to take tea was raised. As late afternoon had become early evening, Yumchaa (https://www.kingscross.co.uk/yumchaa) set in the surroundings of the new St Martins School of Art complex in Kings Cross' Granary Square https://www.kingscross.co.uk/granary-square, had closed  and it seemed no tea was to be found. This a disappointing situation because surely it should be clear to all that after swimming within “an art installation,” what else would one realistically crave but a refreshing brew :)

Cup 2: My tea drinking week had started on the previous Saturday with friends in a cafe in Berlin. I recall noting that many types of tea were on offer in what was a small seemingly ordinary place; my friends took Ginger Tea with Honey, I took Fresh Mint tea. It was lunch time and we had lots of talking to do. The tea was perhaps not memorable, the choices of tea were memorable, as was the discussion that took place as we drank our chosen tea.

Cup 3: On Friday Fresh Mint Tea was at Queenswood in Battersea Square, taken over lunch with a work colleague.  The table at which we sat was comfortable and relaxing, the tea came in pots which supplied ample tea to cups that seemed the right size for tea. 

Cup 4: Friday late afternoon, tea in Waterstones on Piccadilly where the company was most tasteful but, the tea/coffee experience less so - cup handles were wrong and the space too hot.

Cup 5: And then to today, Saturday, and tea following an early-ish morning swim at Letchworth open air pool.  

  
This was taken in Halseys Delicatessen in Hitchin Here the pot, the china, the breakfast, the smell and the ambience all contributed to the tea experience being a very good one. I then went on to purchase 500 grams of their Earl Grey; the only disappointment being the person serving was unable to tell me 'whose' tea it was, only that it came from a lady who was their supplier. The smell from the two 250 gram bags of tea which I placed in my shopping bag after purchase, accompanied me in a most positive way as I went about my mornings shopping exploits. The bags now sit tantalisingly in my cupboard.  I am desperate to finish the Whitards Earl Grey I purchased in Norwich a few weeks ago, so that I can sample this new tea. I will not be purchasing the Whitards variety again. 

And so I come to the end of today.  I could write more, and indeed I intend to, but for now it is enough to have started.

As I wrote this entry I was partaking of a pot of Fortnum and Mason LapsangSouchong from a hand painted china cup and saucer, looking out over my garden at the roses blowing in the evening breeze. As I write that last sentence, I realise that when I actually have any money, I will look to expanding my Teapot collection and indeed my Tea Tin collection. 

footnote

I need to make clear I don't do fruit teas; Ginger Tea and Fresh Mint Tea yes, but not tea's that smell a whole lot better that than they actually taste. I have taken special tea potions prescribed by acupuncturists that were designed to cleanse my blood, and drunk tea brewed through what we described as a 'tea sock' in a tea hut which miraculously appeared on the side of a mountain out of know where, when climbing the Adams Peak, in the middle of the night, in Sri Lanka, whilst being pursued by what looked like rabid dogs. Now the tea plantations of Sri Lanka is another story and for another entry....