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I'm a 29yr old first time dad living in South East London. I have been married to my gorgeous wife since September 2009. We are looking forward to the next chapter in our lives with our darling daughter, LC

Thursday 20 October 2011

Thursday's Thought: 20th October 2011

PinkOddy and TheRealSuperMum, have started a new Thursday's Thought Meme - you can view it here

The rules state that any family friendly topic can be discussed with a view to starting a discussion.


Tea or Coffee?

It's an old argument, but which is best?

Tea
Where would the british be without tea? Since the 17th Century we have brewed this selection of leaves with water to make a refreshing drink which, according to a well known internet encyclopedia, is the second most drunk liquid to water worldwide.

Of course, the tea I'm referring to is good old english breakfast tea, made with tea bag and kettle. My nan would be furious if she knew I didn't brew each cup I embibed. Every household in my family has a tea pot and bone china cup and saucer for my Nan's visits. She will only take tea the correct way you see!

I'm not the word's biggest tea fan, but I think the point with tea (especially around my Nan's era), is that it was as much a social point of the day as it was for refreshment. She would often have her neighbours in for tea and always puts the kettle on when we pay her a visit.

This seems to me a dying practice in the modern world, at least for the most recent of generations. I will always offer a hot drink when we have visitors but my younger siblings will offer water/ coke/ soft drinks before tea. Is this what has caused "Broken Britain" and should we return to those heady days of tea parties?

An anonymous author once wrote, better than me, what tea meant to them:
Tea is, in fact, a wonderous creation to me. When I'm cold: it warms me, when I'm hot: it cools me, when i'm depressed: it cheers me and when I'm excited: it calms me.

All in all, is there anything that a good cup of tea can't resolve!?

Coffee
The young pretender? Apparently not! Coffee has been in the UK since the 16th century - a whole 100 years earlier than tea!

To be honest, it makes no odds to me when it was first enjoyed in th UK, it is still my preferred choice - whether it be instant coffee, filter coffee, made by a franchise or anything else. I love coffee!

Not everyone shares my love of the bean though, when it first arrived in the UK, a London judge claimed: "...the Excessive Use of that Newfangled, Abominable, Heathenish Liquor called COFFEE... has ... Eunucht our Husbands, and Crippled our more kind Gallants, that they are become as Impotent, as Age" - Perhaps they were waiting for tea to arrive!?

It seems, to my mind, that coffee shops have replaced the old fashioned tea rooms and moreover tea parties. My wife frequenty visits a local franchised coffee shop to meet friends and can spend hours in there yamming on about something that makes no sense to any of the male persuasion.

It also seems to be the "in" place for mums that lunch to go and set up camp for hours at a time, rounding up their pushchairs like something from a western film. I tell you one thing, they defend their emcampment fiercely enough to ward off any rustlers :)

I have no rustlers to ward off while enjoying coffee, I simply enjoy the taste and find it keeps me going through the working day.
_

So, me, I can take or leave tea, but I can't function without a mug of coffee on my desk. What's your favourite and why?

Thanks for reading :)

3 comments:

  1. I feel I'm getting old now as tea is definitely a social thing amongst me and my friends - at each other's houses. But tea is not something they make very well in shops so that's when I turn to coffee (latte in fact).

    Great post, thanks for joining in.

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  2. I am most definitely a Tea gal.... Sweet, weak and milky too.

    But like Oddy, out and about I have to have a coffee. Tea tastes AWFUL from cafes.

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  3. It has to be tea for me but only PG tips - I've tried herbal etc nothing beats the old PG - drink coffee once in a while at home and weirdly I drink coffee if I'm out - must be a very picky tea drinker I think!

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