Going to a coffee shop with me can be embarrassing

TEA TIME

Not much in the news today makes one smile, but when I read “Tea & Cake” (July 17) I grinned from ear to ear. July 27 of this month will be the 59th anniversary of our arrival in Israel from South Africa, and I have not lost my cup of tea “culture,” as so aptly described by Neville Teller.

When I visit my Anglo friends, they have already taken out a cup and saucer from the storeroom where they keep their Royal Dalton teas sets, which they inherited and which their children do not want. Fine, settle for a tea bag, but then they are obliged to make the tea, hot and strong, with a drop of milk.

However, to go to a coffee shop with me can be embarrassing. I begin by asking the waiter/waitress if they can spare me a minute. I go into an explanation of wanting tea, but in a cup with a saucer. I drag the poor waiters off to the counter and point out a white cup and saucer and then advise them that I want “classic black tea” with a little milk on the side. All this talk is accompanied by gestures. “But geveret, these cups are for coffee and then you will have to pay the full price for the big tea glass.” I agree to pay and the deal is concluded, but it is a good guess if it will come to the table as agreed upon.

With regard to the cake, well, usually it is a plain coruscant, a long call from a wedge of English fruitcake! Luckily I am able to bake my own, then I serve my friends using (remains of) the Royal Albert tea set, cake plates and small cake forks – the whole caboodle!

There were two attempts to establish English Tea Rooms in Jerusalem, many years ago and although, I was a regular customer, it was not enough to keep them in business. A pity.

Mr. Teller is invited at any time to join me for a proper cuppa.

Many thanks to the Magazine for printing this pleasant read. MIRIAM (MICKEY) BLUMBERG

Kfar Saba

Mr. Teller, you forgot an item for the tea tray: the all-important Tea Cozy (see photo) to cover the teapot. It is used to keep the tea to near boiling point whilst the tea is brewing. MURIEL GOLDMAN Alon Shvut

Neville Teller’s excellent article is surprisingly lacking the other major ingredient for a cuppa tea: Taylor’s, Tazo or Typhoo, or for a Canadian like myself, Red Rose. All are premiere brands that, to the best of my knowledge, have yet to make aliyah!

ZVI BESSIN Efrat

“Tea & cake” beautifully described how we served proper British tea for so many years.

However, a past experience when my late husband and I arrived at a five-star hotel in New Delhi came to mind. Together with a group of British delegates there to join a conference, we all went to the hotel coffee shop and gave our orders. The polite waiter duly arrived with a laden tray to distribute our drinks, but we could see no milk. When requesting this, the waiter reappeared promptly with a glass of cold milk.

“No, no,” said one man. “We want a jug of milk in order to add it to our tea.”

The waiter was horrified. “Milk in your tea?” he exclaimed with shock. “How can you ruin your tea – it will ruin the flavour!” It was later explained to us that the cow is regarded as a holy animal there, and one would never waste it just to add it unnecessarily to tea, and spoil it.

Since then, we always took his advice, and now for over 40 years, have always drunk tea and coffee without milk. The waiter was absolutely right!

Postscript: If you order tea with mint here in Israel, they usually just bring a glass of hot water with some mint floating on the top – no sign even of a teabag – and they call this tea?

JOY COLLINS

Tel Mond

ALL HEART

In her Reflections column “House into home” (July 17), Dvora Waysman concludes, “... turns a house into a home. It isn’t something you can buy, no matter how rich you are. It springs from the heart, and we just call it love.”

In Hebrew, a house (bayit) is the physical material construction, compromised of concrete, wood, glass, etc. In Jewish thinking every home is a mini Beit Mikdash, a spiritual sanctuary. In gematria, the numerical value of bayit is 412. That of Mikdash, 444.

The difference between a home and a house is 32, the value of the Hebrew word lev, heart.

RALPH RAINE

Ra’anana

(Courtesy) THE ALLIMPORTANT tea cozy.