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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13780
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There are some things I need to understand. In chapter 3 we have an American mother aologising for having "only" English Breakfast Tea, and suggesting that it can be had with cream or sugar.
Two strange cultural things here. Cream is one. We use milk. and the two aren't alternatives, becauise you can have milk and/or sugar. People drink it black. By no means many drink it black, but people do.
Teabags I understand, and yes, they are far better in a teapot because the water has room to circulate, but does the USA not have loose tea?
And what is odd about English Breakfast Tea that requires apology?
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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joecasey
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Toe is in the water |
Location: American Midwest
Registered: December 2017
Messages: 44
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Given the story's Portland/Pacific Northwest setting, the author should have gone for the obvious hot beverage of choice and have the mother offer everyone coffee. No mucking about with tea bags or loose tea or wet bags or drips, and Bob's your uncle.
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Welcome to America where English Breakfast Tea is sold in the tea section of every supermarket, usually right next to Constant Comment (tea with orange rind flavoring). Americans who drink tea are quite removed from the British practice. My own grandmother (from Liverpool) always used a teapot, and insisted it had to be rinsed with boiling water before the tea was brewed in it. However, by the end of her life, finding loose tea was nigh impossible and she had to settle for tea bags in a pot. She was never happy about that. Additionally, Americans generally have their tea like they have their coffee: straight or with cream (usually half and half) and sugar is optional. Like I said, welcome to America!
Bensiamin
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Bisexual_Guy
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Likes it here |
Location: USA Midwest
Registered: September 2015
Messages: 156
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It is getting much more difficult to find loose leaf tea in the United States unless it is ordered off of the Internet.
When I was in college in the 1970s, one of my history professors often traveled to London during vacations. She said tea available in the UK was far superior to tea available in the USA, and many more varieties were available. BUT, she said, the variety, selection, and freshness of coffee was better in the States.
Now there is much more variety of tea in the States than at that time. I am allergic to all coffees, so am no judge of coffee. As to the quality issue, I cannot say on tea, because I have only traveled in the USA and Mexico. What little I have heard from friends in recent years indicates that tea in the UK is still superior in quality.
Bensiaman has another good story in "Thru the Storm."
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13780
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"Bensiamin wrote on Wed, 15 February 2023 01:59"Welcome to America where English Breakfast Tea is sold in the tea section of every supermarket, usually right next to Constant Comment (tea with orange rind flavoring). Americans who drink tea are quite removed from the British practice. My own grandmother (from Liverpool) always used a teapot, and insisted it had to be rinsed with boiling water before the tea was brewed in it. However, by the end of her life, finding loose tea was nigh impossible and she had to settle for tea bags in a pot. She was never happy about that. Additionally, Americans generally have their tea like they have their coffee: straight or with cream (usually half and half) and sugar is optional. Like I said, welcome to America!
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The cream sounds disgustingly thick. I have no iea what half-and-half is. So no wonder US folks find tra less appealing than coffee. But why the apology?
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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ivor slipper
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Likes it here |
Registered: September 2013
Messages: 128
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"timmy wrote on Thu, 16 February 2023 08:37"
"Bensiamin wrote on Wed, 15 February 2023 01:59"Welcome to America where English Breakfast Tea is sold in the tea section of every supermarket, usually right next to Constant Comment (tea with orange rind flavoring). Americans who drink tea are quite removed from the British practice. My own grandmother (from Liverpool) always used a teapot, and insisted it had to be rinsed with boiling water before the tea was brewed in it. However, by the end of her life, finding loose tea was nigh impossible and she had to settle for tea bags in a pot. She was never happy about that. Additionally, Americans generally have their tea like they have their coffee: straight or with cream (usually half and half) and sugar is optional. Like I said, welcome to America!
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The cream sounds disgustingly thick. I have no iea what half-and-half is. So no wonder US folks find tra less appealing than coffee. But why the apology?
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I suspect it is an expression that only has meaning to Americans, but the answer to your first question can be found here:
What Is Half-and-Half and What's a Good Substitute? (allrecipes.com)
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Actually, Joe, to carry your comment to its logical conclusion about the Pacific Northwest, Liam's mother could have served chai tea. However, fewer people would understand that than would tea made in a pot. The point was an alternative to coffee with a personal twist. I suppose she could have offered seltzer water in a champagne flute. But, it being winter she wanted something hot.
Bensiamin
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