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In my previous blog, I said that I would be talking about tea at some point. Well, today is the day, folks!
I can’t leave the coffee enthusiasts out, though, so we will be diving head first into a brewable debate on which is the most popular caffeinated drink. In my personal opinion, I’m just here for the tea, but I am pretty biased since I grew up in a ‘tea drinking’ household with not a cocoa bean in sight. However, I do have an occasional acquired taste for coffee if I’m in the mood—plus, let’s face it, compared to tea, coffee has that strong, nutty, chocolatey smell to it. Whereas, one has to question, does tea actually smell of anything?🤔
I will be answering this question, by the way. First, let’s educate ourselves on why the Brits love tea so much because that’s a good place to start.
The answer is simple.
Throughout history, tea has been part of our culture from the moment it was introduced to Britain in the 17th century. As you can imagine, it became a popular beverage rapidly, especially after the British court officially made tea drinking custom.
I, for one, am so pleased that tea rose into brewdom. It has maintained its reputation by building long-lasting relationships among fellow Brits, inspiring the most commonly known phrase, ‘Do you fancy a cuppa?’
I could think of nothing better than visiting someone’s home and being offered a cup of tea. It’s tradition—it’s common hospitality in South Wales these days. During the winter months, the most satisfying thing is coming home from work and curling up on the sofa with a cup of tea and a good book. Of course, not everybody likes tea and not everybody likes coffee—some people drink neither.
As we speak, I have tea on standby, and I’m hoping that this cup will last until I’ve finished writing my blog. I don’t know how many times a day that kettle is boiled–I’ve honestly lost count.
I’m definitely a mix between a Jasmine for my creativity and probably an English breakfast.
Let’s go back to one of my earlier questions: Does tea smell? Well, of course, it does if you consider Peppermint Tea and Green Tea, among others with specific herbs, but what about
Earl Grey and English Breakfast?
I had this conversation with Newport City Radio presenter Kym Frederick a few days ago, and I automatically jumped to the conclusion that they don’t smell like anything. Kym had a different reaction to that statement.
She claimed that whilst visiting a tea farm years ago, she could definitely smell the tea. When she was younger, she would never drink to the bottom of the cup as the tea-making experience back then involved putting steep tea leaves in a pot, which meant that if you drank to the bottom of the cup it was being served in, you’d get an uncomfortable greeting from some of the tea leaves
that had sunk.
This all changed in 1901, and now we have a completely new procedure whilst making tea–Simply boil the kettle, pop the teabag into the cup, pour hot water into the cup, dunk the tea bag until it turns the colour you want and voila, you’re good to go. There are no tea leaves in sight!
Okay, so we’ve spoken about tea in great detail. Now, it’s time to move on to coffee. (Don’t worry, coffee lovers, I haven’t forgotten about you).
When I think of coffee, I immediately think of Starbucks or Costa. Unfortunately, we don’t have a Starbucks in Merthyr.
We do have two Costa’s, though. Newport currently has three Starbucks shops: one located at the Newport Retail Park, another situated at 2 Emlyn Street, and a third within the Spytty Road area.
I recently made a poll on my Instagram, asking people if they prefer drinking tea or coffee, and here are the results.
As you can see, Tea won by a long mile, but these statistics don’t prove anything except that the minority who voted on my Instagram poll happens to be tea lovers like myself. Worldwide, it’s difficult to distinguish which beverage is favoured more as it depends on the country, culture, and tradition.
Ultimately, it all comes down to your individual taste buds, opinions and preferences.
I once ordered a shot of coffee by accident! The person serving me thought I wanted a shot, and I didn’t even know you could have shots in the form of coffee! I didn’t drink it, of course. It wasn’t what I was expecting. Kudos to any coffee-shot drinkers out there—that stuff is strong!
Have you ever noticed that a morning cup of coffee is like a life coach in a mug? It does a good job of waking you up and then sends you off to face the world with a bit of energy to kick-start the day.
In conclusion, whether you’re a consumer of tea or coffee, it’s utterly your choice. All this chatting is making me thirsty. Speaking of tea, it’s about time I made another one.
Until we speak again!
Written by: Kym Frederick
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