You want a piece of China?

After my previous blog I felt a teeny tiny bit bad about the fact that I singled out the Brits on a few things. I would not call this an attempt at reconciliation or redemption, but I always feel : pay a compliment where a compliment is due.

The Brits know a thing or two about tea - you have to give them that - and how to properly serve it. Few things feel as civilised as having High Tea in a fancy hotel. At home though, drinking from a nice Royal Albert tea cup or any tea cup for that matter, will have to do. One just doesn't always have the time or ingredients at hand to prepare 10 different bites to go with it. Baking scones (in Canada they call it a biscuit - this however sounds too much like something the dog would like after performing a trick for its owner) is as far as I'll go unless I have company over to join me in this most elegant of institutions. I have been greatly influenced by the Anglo-Saxons no doubt. The Chinese have teas too, I know, but green tea hasn't won me over as yet.

Do you know why the English pour their milk in the tea cup before the actual tea? Because the cups were from such fine china that it could crack when pouring boiling hot tea into it, but by adding milk first, the cup gradually heats and prevents cracks in the procelain. My dad still sticks to this custom - even when he drinks from a mug on occasion. He's convinced it tastes better this way.

One of the biggest voids in my life here in Canada (apart from being 23 000km away from friends and family) is the absence of cafes/coffee shops with their wide variety of cakes and pastries. Here it is undoubtedly a coffee culture and drive-through service at these coffee joints to make the experience even go by faster and make it less diluted than than it should be. Sitting down to enjoy this moment in your day is the least you can do for yourself. Although with coffee it is a different experience than with tea, no doubt. So after we first moved to Canada we started drinking our tea from mugs because mugs are everywhere - cups you have to really go the extra mile for in finding it. Let me tell you: tea just does not taste the same in a mug! I can vouch for this. Tea is as delicate as the cup from which it should be served in. It should not be consumed in half a litre quantities at a time (yes even the mugs here are bigger than what I were used to)  like one does with coffee.

Tea cups became such a rare sighting to me that I started buying every cup that had the remote chance of taking me back to the tea experiences I remember from childhood. Growing up I could never appreciate the Royal Albert collections but I always loved the lightness of the porcelain and the rim so thin between your lips. And so it happened two Christmases ago that Royal Albert brought out a centennial collection which consisted of 10 different looking cups - one from each decade. I was now a grown-up and immediately fell in love with it. And obviously bought it. The problem was that it didn't come with an accompanying small plate for the scones and cucumber sandwiches...I phoned and e-mailed and went from store to store trying to find same. In the end I resorted to the highest levels in the Royal Albert company structure - the CEO in Canada. My next step would have been to contact the Queen and ask for her help - she would know the right people. A week later I had 10 different looking plates matching my 10 different looking cups. I'm persistent, if nothing else...

By now I have the tea pots and milk and sugar sets to boot. I have a special showcase just for these lovely "working" ornaments - yes, I am using it as often as I want and although it must be washed by hand , I do it with a smile because: the tea just tastes better this way!