ninme

Telegraph - Cheers for the cup of tea

Without tea, the Empire might never have been. It was tea that suppressed the soldiers’ hunger pangs when bivouacked in far-flung parts; tea that, once boiled, cut down the incidence of disease; and tea that stimulated much of the trade between Britain and Asia that tied the Empire together.

In this less adventurous era, it is the humbler benefits of tea for which we are thankful: the fine-china ritual on a summer afternoon, or the cardboard cup that soothes the stresses of office life.

In this country alone, we get through 165 million cups of the stuff every day.

So the news today that tea also reduces the risk of a heart attack is merely the marzipan on the Battenberg: we needed no persuasion of the drink’s merits.

Indeed, in these increasingly strained times, it is also the thrifty option: who needs a frothy, overpriced coffee, when there is a cuppa to hand?

Indeed. And yesterday marks the day when I officially finished my box of disgusting Trader Joe’s tea. Now I can go up to the little tea shop on Queen Anne Avenue and get something delicious, and treat myself. Ahhhh.