Tea all the Aussie rage until beverage battled real coffee
ACCORDING TO my “research”, tea was “invented” around 5000 years ago when a hapless leaf from a wild tree blew into Chinese Emperor Shen Nung’s pot of boiling water.
The Emperor called out to the Lady Empress, “Would you like a cuppa darling”? and the beverage revolution started.
Tea was all the rage in Australia until quite recently, with leading brands like Billy, Bushells, Lipton, Lan-Choo and Tetley.
Having tea was almost like a religious gathering.
Tables were prepared to a certain standard with the best tablecloth, remarkable crockery, milk jug and sugar bowl.
In the 1950s, my maternal Grandmother taught me to turn the hot teapot three times, anticlockwise, and 60 years later I am still doing it in case she’s watching.
Mind you, when I went fishing on the Barwon River with my Dad and his mates, and couldn’t they swear, niceties we left behind and a handful of tea leaves was tossed into a boiling billy which in turn was swung around one’s head three times, anticlockwise of course.
Comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore did a television commercial way back then which embraced the adage of “one for each person and one for the pot”.
I tried it and ended up with a pot of bitumen.
Many songs were written with tea in their title including “Time for Tea”, “Tea for Two”, “When I take my Sugar for Tea”, “Afternoon Tea” and “Anyone for Tea”.
Coffee, on the other hand, was “on the nose” and resembled brown dust.
Then came the revolution, real coffee!
Enter long black and cappuccino followed by an army of variations including Espresso, Macchiato, Latte, Flat White, Doppio, Americano and Mocha.
We added a permanent polystyrene cup to our hands, complete with mouthpiece, and paraded around town.
Tea had lost the war, or had it? In Toowoomba I noticed a new shop at the corner of Herries and Neil Streets trading as “TeaWoomba, Top of the Range Teas” and I went to their Facebook page to learn more.
Their first post was on January 10, 2017, and they continued to post about wonderful tea products and merchandise until Christmas Eve that year – sadly I suspect that was the end.
There is now a big-league tea player in Toowoomba, called “T2 Tea”, with more than 100 different tea types plus tea merchandise.
The blends are mouth-watering and include “Just Peppermint”, “Lemongrass and Ginger”, “Sleep Tight”, “Liquorice Legs” and “Morning Sunshine.”
I don’t think I’ve enough time left on the planet to try them all so I’ve settled on “French Earl Grey” as my favourite.
C’mon The Chronicle tea drinkers, let’s show those coffee devotees who’s in charge!