Tea, the religion of the art of life

On a tea related surf this afternoon I discovered the quote in the title of this blog (or at least the gist of it). It is by one Okakura Kakuzo who, in the early part of the last century, wrote a book  called The Book of Tea. I wonder if for Okakura, a cup of tea was something to be taken while slouched in an armchair with a good book or taken in a cafe while examining an afternoons purchases and wondering if your feet will ever be not sore again. Certainly for the atheist blogger it makes more sense as a religion than most others out there - I certainly never start my day without attending to my devotions and it is the poorest sort of day that doesn't contain evening vespers.

This is actually a special request blog requested by Miss McK on my page on the Dark Side yesterday. It just so happened that only a few months ago I received an email from her brother (curiously Mr McK) with a link to a very interesting page all about tea. The page explains how tea contains a substance called L-theanine ( a substance not found in coffee) which when combined with caffeine gives a sense of mindful awareness.

Below is a delightful cream tea I had on a glorious day last Summer in Chippenham - obviously tea may contain L-theanine and caffeine but it does not contain a scone and a big dollop of jam so you have to get these separately on a side plate.

Aha found it! First task when arriving in the apartment my work put me up in is to find the tea.

A cuppa in Cafe Nero while waiting for meal No 1 to arrive.

A fruit tea at work - they don't trust us with breakable mugs there!!!

Chinese proverb - Drinking a daily cup of tea will starve the apothecary.

Japanese proverb - If a man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.

I know this isn't a cup of tea but it seemed a reasonable place to put it. It is there to pay homage to the perfect toast created by my Granny all through the 70s and 80s in a toaster of indeterminate ancientness. It was always made with a Scottish Plain Loaf which I have never seen south of the border. The notable quality of the plain loaf is that it has virtually no crusts on the side and the crusts on the top and bottom are nearly inedible - once they are toasted they are absolutely inedible so they are cut off before toasting. I do occasionally buy a plain loaf and attempt to recreate my granny's lightly toasted wonder - often coming close but never quite making it.

As befits my itinerant ways, I drink a lot of tea out of paper cups.

A month or so ago, I was sitting in the kitchen on a sunny day with friends when I spotted little rainbows in the steam rising from a cup (maybe the cup I had was particularly high in L-theanine and caffeine that day). The next day when I was alone and my lunacy might not get discovered, I tried to recreate the circumstances that led to the phenomenon (my thanks to the weather for playing it's part here) - alas no rainbows, in fact not even a decent cup of tea - once you've reheated a cuppa in the microwave a couple of times it is horrible.

Thanks to my sister, Dot, who bought me this very useful mug for Christmas with a little slot underneath for a couple of biscuits - she even provided the biscuits :)

Dr Johnson wrote, " I am a hardened and shameless tea drinker, who has for twenty years diluted his meals only with the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnight, and with tea welcomes the morning."

A rather nice box of fruit tea that has seen me over the new year.

Billy Connolly says, "Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn't try it on."

More tea?