Tea and Me

Another long and tiring day and it’s another mint tea bag — today’s tea is Nearly Nirvana . Ingredients: Chinese white tea, Chinese green tea, jasmine blossoms, spearmint, orange blossom. They describe it thus: This luxury white tea with heavenly jasmine and spiritual spearmint will surely help you reach nirvana. Don't just take our word for it . . . Japanese monks say tea embodies the four Buddhist principles and the word on the street is that they also use it to help them stay awake during meditation and to quiet their grumbling tummies during fasts! I have to be honest that after yet another long and tiring day the last thing I wanted to find in my advent calendar was another mint tea bag. Although I very much enjoyed the Mojitea yesterday I was really hoping for something a bit more Christmassy and comforting today. Instead, I got spearmint and something that, at the risk of sounding like my nine-year-old nephew, looks a bit like a mug of wee. ...

Well . . . sort of. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to be taken for afternoon tea at the Corinthia Hotel’s Crystal Moon Lounge in London as a late birthday present from my friend Beryl. As it’s tea-related, I thought it would be good to share my afternoon and the lovely sandwiches and cakes they served us. As both a tea lover and a cake lover, I am a big fan of afternoon teas (I am actually considered the Queen of Afternoon Tea in my office because I’ve had so many – my 50 th birthday seemed to consist of nothing but afternoon tea for several months) and to my mind the Corinthia is one of the best venues in London and I have been there several times now. Unlike better-known establishments, the Corinthia is extremely easy-going and they don’t impose a 90-minute time limit that the more touristy places such as the Ritz, the Savoy and the Dorchester do and they always, unfailing, provide excellent service and a good level of knowledge about the products they serve. We spe...