A Soothing Handmade Cuppa.

Even the art of making a cup of tea is being outsourced.

I love my coffee as much as the next person, but only in the morning. From mid-morning onward there is only one hot beverage on my agenda...A nice cup of tea. Not fancy fruit tea, or any other but just a plain old cup of black tea.

In fact, a cup is the wrong description as I have a special sized mug, that lends itself beautifully for the perfect tea. You can't really call me a tea purist as I do use tea bags. At the moment more expansively than normal because Bob has brought back a lot of teabags from South Africa.

Some wives like to get jewels, perfume or fancy chocolate but I am pleased as punch when I get a box of teabags.

Austria has many things, but a plain Jane teabag it hasn't. The Five Roses Blend ( my favourite brand ), which believe me isn't anything fancy, has a nice strong flavour that still comes through with more than just a hint, once I've added the milk. Of course often in Continental Europe, if you do order a cup of tea either it is the peppermint variety or the Russian blend with lemon on the side. Not my cup of tea!

We all have different tea tastes, and Bob likes a strong builder's cup of Bush / Rooibos tea,( the milk is a mere backdrop to a tea so strong that the spoon could stand in it ) while I like the milky kind. At least, we both don't add sugar to it.

South Africa is also a former British Colony and the drinking of tea is still ingrained into society. Before the sun dips and changes the time into a sun-downer one ( a.k.a. Gin & Tonic time ), tea is drunk to cure all ills or just to sit and relax with a cup of it.

The hardest part of making a cup of tea, is switching on the kettle and getting off the couch...so imagine my horror at seeing Tea Making Machines advertised. Machines to make the perfect tasting cup of tea! What gives?

Rather a waste of so many things. Have we as a society become so lazy and blase that we don't want to dirty our hands anymore. Goodness, it is such a gigantic task to plop a tea bag into a cup and fill it with hot water...Granted, when one is lazy, getting up to make the cup is often delegated to the spouse and in our house we do a Rock Paper Scissors nomination.

I somehow get the feeling that companies & conglomerates think of us as that peculiar Emperor sans clothes...They make appliances just because they know we are silly enough to buy them, even if we don't need them.

If you don't believe me, just take a peak into your kitchen cabinets, the ones where most of us stash the hardly ever used appliances. Those, that need so much cleaning & space, that it is easier to make things the old fashioned way.

Biggi