How do you prefer to take your tea? Do you prefer a easy to use, ready made teabag, or is loose tea your thing?
I received quite a sniffy email from a reader (and that is how she described herself so I'm not being rude!) saying I put too much emphasis on teabags and why do I not concentrate on loose tea! Can I not make tea in a pot she asked me. Well, of course I can!
In an ideal world, I would love to use loose leaf tea daily, but in all honesty I don't have the time. And I think that is probably the case for a great many people. To warm the pot, then wait for it to brew would take up too much time, when in fact, I dash downstairs, boil the kettle and then on the run again.
For me, making tea in a pot using a high quality loose tea is my idea of heaven. And it's something I do at the weekends when I can unwind after the week, put my feet up and watch a movie or my favourite television show.
If I were a lady of leisure then I would make pots every day!
I don't believe that using teabags, be it round, square or pyramid shaped ones means your a lazy tea drinker. Aside from the time aspect, many fabulous blends are not available in loose tea form. It wouldn't be practical for every tea maker to release tea bag and loose leaf tea in every line they sell. There wouldn't be enough space on the shelves to do this!
But, at the same time, I feel a bit of sadness that the ritual of high tea is a dying art, and I know several tea purists who worry that the art of making tea in a pot will soon be lost. But, as I wrote in a post last month, I was encouraged to see that younger people are turning to drinking tea from a pot, so maybe all is not lost.
There is nothing quite like loose tea. The smell, the feel of it, the look of it. It is rather special. But for me it's a treat to be cherished when I have the time. And, for me, it's something I really do look forward to at the end of the week.
I'd never criticise anyone for opting to take tea in a bag over loose tea. It's a personal - and practical - choice.
As long as we have the chance to actually drink tea and enjoy it, that's all that matters, right?
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