Surely It's Not That Difficult To Make A Cup Of Tea?

One of the last bastions of mental retreat and a sense of tranquility.

Drinking tea is one one of those ubiquitous healing drinks. We drink it for any and every occasion. A cup of tea is the best medicine or at least a step in the right direction.

Perhaps it is the ritual of making a cup or the actual drinking of it, that makes a troubled day seem okay. Knowing how long to leave the teabag in the hot water and how much milk to add to it is rather therapeutic. Having grown up in South Africa, the habit of drinking of tea has become part of life. Don't get me wrong, I prefer a glass of wine to tea at the end of a day, but until late afternoon, a cup of tea is heaven.

Bob is also rather fond of tea and herein lies the problem...a domestic one! Neither of us can merely make tea for one, as the minute either of us hears the kettle being switched on, the other will shout loudly:

" Thanks, I'd love a cup too! "

We use tea bags, which aren't as authentic and queenly as loose tea, but regardless, one doesn't have to be a brain surgeon to make it. Which brings me to my point...

Alarmingly, the art of making tea is being outsourced too. Imagine buying a tea making machine and more scarily, individual tea capsules in order to make a cup! Yikes, my good sense revolts at this. What is wrong with making your own tea and even worse, why use those aluminium encased capsules that are bad for people and the environment?

Have we become extras in those childhood fables of long ago? Particularly the one about the Emperor with no clothes springs to mind. Advertisers are luring us away from common sense and make us feel as if it's the done thing to become enslaved by machines.

A point in case: The prolific use of capsule coffee machines. Just because George Clooney advertised them, a herd of women rushed out to buy a machine. Never mind that a cup of coffee now costs about 20 times more than if made with a normal filter coffee machine and that those cups of coffee are awfully small. Three sips and it's finished. Sad, how easily advertisers strip us of our common sense...

Biggi