English Tea Fiascos

By K.Leigh Furzer on February 26, 2013

This morning I made a quick trip to Starbucks where I ordered a grande Earl Grey tea. A few minutes later I was out the door and on my way. Now, as much as I love Starbucks, I have the occasional grumble against purchasing there –overpriced, generic, lack of supporting small businesses, etc. However, based on my two tea experiences in England, I can now seriously appreciate some aspects of Starbucks.

The first stressful tea experience occurred when I was in Betty’s – an apparently famous tea shop in Harrogate. I was visiting my flatmate in his hometown and having tea at Betty’s was a Harrogate must-do. I ordered breakfast tea – a seemingly simple selection, right? Wrong. I was presented with a cup, milk, sugar, a teapot, and a strainer. It was definitely out of my ‘I pour hot water over a tea bag’ league.  I looked to my super English (although questionable after this) flatmate to sort the situation out, and he looked as surprised as me. After a few seconds of staring we managed to make my tea – pour the tea in the teapot over the strainer into the cup and add milk. Voilà, English tea. Amazingly enough, it tasted exactly like any other tea I’ve had, but I definitely took pride in conquering the posh creation of English tea.

Alas, it turns out the English can be even more intense with their serving of tea. I went to an adorable tea shop, Teacup on Thomas St, in the trendy bit of Manchester where I ordered Cream Tea – a cup of tea with a scone. The tea set-up arrived first, and it was far more complex than Betty’s. The server brought me a cup, milk, sugar, a teapot, another teapot with a strainer, and a timer. No instructions were given. Needless to say, I had no idea what to do. I speculated on the right approach, but feared looking absolutely ridiculous. After a bit of panicked looking around, I saw a woman with the same tea situation. The process was as I assumed: wait for the timer to finish, pour the tea in the first teapot over the strainer attached to the second teapot, then pour the tea from the second teapot into the cup and add milk. Tea is a whole event, really. Luckily the scone was pretty straight forward – cut the scone in half and add cream (or butter – a serious debate) and jam. I felt super accomplished and English and had a lovely afternoon. Amusingly/Irritatingly, a week later I went back to the tea shop with one of my flatmates, and our waitress, of course, gave us tea instructions.

So, as lovely as my English teashop experiences were and as generic as Starbucks is, sometimes I can appreciate my speedy and easy Starbucks tea.

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