Un autre thé l'après-midi

Des fois, je sors et je bois un thé en après-midi. Une habitude très anglaise que j'ai prise. Je disais le 23 mars que je ne le faisais plus guère. La journée même, nous allions dans un centre de jardinage et j'ai repris la tradition. L'ennui de boire du thé en après-midi, c'est la caféine: je risque de demeurer éveillé tard. Mais j'ai pris du earl grey, c'est moins pire. Dans tous les cas, c'était un excellent thé, pas trop amer, avec une très belle couleur.

Darjeeling and Earl Grey mix

The teas from Tea Pigs are fairly popular in the region where we are, as an upmarket brand of tea. I don't often think of buying them, but I enjoy them from time to time. Last week, we went to a tea room in a nearby town, and they had their products, including a Darjeeling and Earl Grey mix. It was delicious, a delicate tea with just enough caffeine to give the bit of extra energy to keep you alert for the rest of an afternoon. After this discovery, I think I should explore the products of this brand a bit more.

Nuage (la photo du mois)

Le thème de la photo du mois était nuage, choisi par Dame Skarlette. J'ai pensé d'abord au brouillard, qui est un nuage au ras du sol. Vivant en Angleterre, j'ai comme l'embarras du choix dans les photos. Puis je me suis dit que j'avais déjà publié pleins de photos de brouillard, notamment... sur une photo du mois. Alors j'ai finalement opté pour une autre forme de brouillard et une autre forme de nuage: un nuage de lait. En fait, un gros, gros nuage de lait: le London fog, un breuvage chaud qui est en fait du thé Earl Grey trempé dans du lait. Celui-ci a été bu au Perky Peacock à York. Alors c'est un brouillard londonien de York. Savourez l'ironie. En général, j'évite comme la peste le lait dans le thé, mais j'étais curieux de celui-ci. Ce n'est pas ce que je considère un thé proprement dit (moi et les nuages de lait, ça fait deux), plutôt une boisson à base de thé, mais c'est délicieux. Celui-ci l'était en tout cas.

Et vous trouverez plus bas les nuages des autres:

A'icha, Akaieric, Alban, Alexinparis, Aude, Autour de Cia, BiGBuGS, Blogoth67, Brindille, Canaghanette, Cara, Carole en Australie, Champagne, Chat bleu, Chiffons and Co, Chloé, Christophe, Cricriyom from Paris, CécileP, Céline in Paris, Dame Skarlette, Danièle.B, DelphineF, Dom-Aufildesvues, Dr. CaSo, El Padawan, Estelle, Eva INside-EXpat, Fanfan Raccoon, François le Niçois, Frédéric, Galéa, Gilsoub, Giselle 43, Guillaume, Homeos-tasie, Iris, Isaquarel, J'habite à Waterford, Josette, Julia, Kenza, KK-huète En Bretannie, Koalisa, Krn, La Fille de l'Air, Lau* des montagnes, Laulinea, Laurent Nicolas, Lavandine, Lavandine83, Les Bazos en Goguette, Les bonheurs d'Anne & Alex, Les Filles du Web, Loqman, Loulou, Luckasetmoi, Lyonelk, magda627, Mamysoren, Marie, MauriceMonAmour, Memories from anywhere, Milla la galerie, Morgane Byloos Photography, MyLittleRoad, Nanouk, Nicky, Noz & 'Lo, Pat, Philae, Philisine Cave, Pilisi, Pixeline, princesse Emalia, ratonreal, Renepaulhenry, Rosa, Rythme Indigo, Sinuaisons, Suki, Tambour Major, Testinaute, Thalie, Tuxana, Un jour, une vie, Visites et voyages, Voyager en photo, Woocares, Xoliv'.

London fog in York?

Well, I am not talking about the fog itself, but a drink from the Perky Peacock, one of the happy discoveries I made at the very beginning of my stay and maybe my favourite coffee shops in York. London fog is a tea made with Earl Grey, with frothed milk and vanilla essence. The frothed milk gives the cup a very foggy look, as you can see on the picture. As you know, I find milk in tea utterly barbaric. But I was curious about its name and the idea of vanilla flavour was intriguing. So against my general principle, I ordered one. I guess I have little principles. And yes, I actually enjoyed it. That said, I wouldn't take it every day, I still prefer my tea very black.

And I did also have some true, proper Yorkshire tea at the Perky Peacock. The picture on your left was actually one of the first photos I took of my whole stay and the very first tea cup I had in my first day in York. It was only fitting. And if you can see milk in the background, for the record I had it by itself afterwards. As milk should be drunk. The tea was taken all black, as it should be. I will blog more about the Perky Peacock, but suffice to say now that it was a great experience in an amazing setting. And that the London fog was actually quite drinkable.

Earl Grey with a citrus twist?

The tea amateurs and connoisseurs may have noticed it: there is a new blend of Earl Grey from Twinings. It is called Earl Grey Citrus (I think it is this one anyway). It says on the big that it has "a citrus twist". Usually at work, they have a choice of breakfast tea and Earl Grey. Now they switched the Earl Grey to this new edition. I always drink Earl Grey in the morning at work, because of its alleged virtues. One of them in particular: it is meant to give you energy. And I often desperately need an energy boost in the morning. So anyway, I decided to try this special Earl Grey edition and... And I am not convinced. At first I thought I thought I was drinking some lemon flavoured cough medicine, but I got used to it. Still, there is something odd about the citrus taste. Anybody else tried it? If so, what did you think of it?

Tragedy at work

Well, I am exaggerating of course. I hope nobody worried reading this title. It was not exactly a tragedy, but it certainly makes a day more difficult, more painful as well, as I need my cuppa tea and I need it quickly. Tea is an essential part of my mornings at work, it is the fuel my body works on, it is essential to my survival and well being. I have Earl Grey because it is supposed to give energy. Hence, I need boiling water ready to pour. But that day, the boiler was out of order. So I had to do it the slow way, using the kettle that you do not see on the picture. It is slow, boiling water with a kettle. It is certainly not ideal when you are about to have your quick tea fix.

The virtues of Earl Grey

There is something I learned during my last time in Aux Vivres in Montreal, on their teas menu (you can see it here, on the second page): Earl Grey tea is meant to be energizing. I usually have it in the morning at work, and it is true that it makes the difference between the zombie feeling I have in the morning to the state of a a normal healthy person I am in later in the day. I wonder if it did not become my morning tea by instinct. I do find myself more alert after I drank it. Here I drink Twinings, which is maybe the most famous brand of tea, especially when it comes to Earl Grey. But I would love to try David's Tea's Earl Grey and some of its variants. Which reminds me that I will need one day to write a proper post about David's Tea. But until then, I encourage workers to ditch coffee and go for Earl Grey.

Earl Grey anecdote

I have mentioned here how important my morning dose of tea is for me to get through a working day. Last week at work, there was no more of Twining's Earl Grey in stock. Instead I had to take PG Tips. I hate PG Tips. I only take it when I need a quick tea fix. So when one of my German colleagues asked me how I was this morning, I answered: "Terrible, there is no more Earl Grey." She replied: "You are thinking like an Englishman." Shock horror. She was true of course. And this deserves to be a great unknown line. I said: "Now my day is taking a turn for the worse". This does deserve to be another great unknown line. The tragic irony is that my day did get worse. Nevertheless, it was a funny moment, if unsettling.

Monday survival guide

I was wondering last Monday how to survive it and the 9 to 5 job I have. I experienced it today first hand, and in the borderline worst case scenario: at the end of a month. Ends of months are usually busier and often nastier. Surprisingly, or maybe not, I survived this Monday better than I did the last one. Maybe because I was better prepared. I drank tea (Earl Grey), I had a breakfast that was high in sugar: a scone and a donut, the donut being offered by the employer as it was the end of the month. It gave me plenty of energy to get through the day. I also had pizza for lunch, again that was given by the employer which allowed me 1)to save myself a meal, 2)gain some protein through all the salt and saturated fat and 3)to make the usual gloomy Monday lunch a bit different. The pizza was pure junk food, but still enjoyable. And, as one of my readers had suggested, I took plenty of breaks. My waistline is worse for wear, but I survived Monday.

Tea and survival

Yesterday, there was no more Twinings' Earl Grey, which is what I have usually have with my breakfast. I survive starvation and exhaustion at work with a beaver's diet, but I also need tea for survival. I have one cup in the morning, and it is usually enough to keep me alert for the day, especially if I struggled to sleep the night before. There's free tea at work, a choice of either Earl Grey from Twinings or some banal Tetley or PG Tips tea, which tastes like rough mud. It wakes up all right, but it is much less enjoyable. I prefer Twinings in any case and since their Earl Grey is fancier, I just have it. But there was no Earl Grey, so I had to go to the other kind, whatever it was. In my state, a bit asleep light headed with hunger and in need of caffeine, I threw two bags in the mug. My colleague in charge of supplies laughed about it, I apologize saying I was definitely in need of tea to wake me up if I couldn't count to two. She said: "Oh but have more, it's not rationed." Thankfully it is not. I wonder how I could survive a war if tea and sugar were rationed. I certainly wouldn't be able to go to the front! Anyway, I thought what she said was a great unknown line.