Archive for the ‘Devotea’ Category

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International Devotea Day


2012
04.07

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Posted in Devotea, tea obsessive, The_Devotea | 13 Comments »

Robert Godden aka The Devotea

Boy do I have some good news for you today. Some of you might think that the religious holidays and their requisite traditions are the most important things going on these days. I can understand why you’d see things that way, and I’d never want to interfere with the way you mark the season.

But me personally, I’m celebrating something else entirely. It’s International Devotea Day and I’m here to tell you that this is arguably one of the best holidays you could ever imagine. What does International Devotea Day entail? I’m so pleased you asked.

Essentially, what we do on International Devotea Day is drink as much tea as humanly possible. If you’re one of those sort who doesn’t like to overdo things, this holiday might not be to your liking. There’s nothing measured or sensible about a day like today. Under the circumstances, we’re taking tea drinking where it’s never gone before.

Now, you’re most likely thinking to yourself, ‘Sure, I like tea ok. It’s a beverage that curiously both calms and enlivens me. But I have to be honest: I’m not one for going overboard.’

I hate to tell you this, but you really should consider locking yourself indoors and drawing the curtains. Keep your children and family pets away from any exterior windows. There’s going to be some excessive tea drinking and it might not be pretty.

In honour of the big day, I’ll leave you with one of my favourite Devotea videos. It’s George Orwell‘s Nice Cup of Tea (click on the link, you’ll be glad you did), and it still makes me smile whenever I watch it. I must leave you to it then. There’s so much to prepare before International Devotea Day begins in earnest (Happy Birthday Robert).

 

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all the same teablogger


2011
09.14

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Posted in Devotea, Lazy Literatus, teablog | 2 Comments »

Jo Johnson suggested in a blogpost that Robert Godden and I were the same person.  Here’s the whole post: World Tea East – Finale.  She was joking with VL Hamilton, as she describes it, and VL assured her that there was no way that we were the same.  Like I say, I’m sure that this was an offhand joke, but what better place to start off a blogpost.

First of all, Robert and Geoff Norman and I have joked that we’re the Beasts of Brewdom.  We not only interact with one another on twitter, but we find ourselves blogging in tandem and doing what little we’re able to for the sake of masculine tea drinking.

But I’ve taken the funny off-hand comment and wondered to myself what sets us apart.

Robert’s blog which is called The Devotea’s Tea Spouts is a collection of musings and curiosities that he’s written and he’s particularly good when he’s somehow riled up and/or got a score to settle.  One of my favourite of these is Carry On Up the Spout.  Try it you’ll like it.

And Geoff has included his explorations with tea, as well as cultural ponderings.  One of his better recent posts was Iran So Far for…Tea.  All about tea in a part of the world about which we get such murky information.  Periodically, he’ll go on a tear and write a piece of tea-fuelled prose that is immensely entertaining.  Watch for just such a piece of fiction.  It’s worth the wait.

What am I doing here?  What’s the purpose of a teablog?  Partly, it’s a documentation about my love affair with tea.  It’s a place I like to record the minutiae and the tangentially tea-related.  I’ve also purposely tried to make this blog as accesible as possible for tea newcomers.  I joke about bringing people over to the leaf-side, but it really has been a pleasurable avocation of mine to attract curious people to try good tea.

More on that soon.  Much more.  But in the meantime I’ll simply say that to be confused with the likes of The_Devotea or even Lazy Literatus is not such a bad predicament to be in at all.

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Who would put milk in their Darjeeling tea?


2011
08.01

Posted in Beasts of Brewdom, Darjeeling, Devotea, Geoff Norman, Joie de tea, Lazy Literatus, Philistine, Robert Godden, tea obsessive, Tee Kampagne, Uncategorized, Verity Fisher | 4 Comments »



There was a lively discussion this morning about polluting Darjeeling tea with milk. Robert Godden (you might know him as The_Devotea over on twitter) mentioned in passing that his wife insisted on drinking her Darjeeling with milk and sugar. It’s Australia. They don’t necessarily stand on convention in the distant reaches of civilisation.

For a few brief moments we had a Beasts of Brewdom situation. Almost immediately after the offhand remark about milk and sugar in Darjeeling, there was shock and dismay coming from up in Portland, Oregon. Lazy Literatus, who’s also known by his given name Geoff Norman, could be heard spitting up his tea upon hearing how the Darjeeling was being mishandled.
Well at this point, another Australian (Verity Fisher also known as @joiedetea) quietly admitted that she’d uncharacteristically added milk to her Darjeeling that morning because she’d over-steeped her tea and the milk cut down on the bitterness. I was worried Geoff might have an aneurism at this point. She assured him that it wouldn’t happen again, but I’m not entirely sure he believed her. Only time will tell.
I have an Irish friend who’s been ordering Darjeeling in bulk for decades from the Tee Kampagne, and he’s been putting milk in his tea since he was small. Or smaller. He wouldn’t give a damn what these tea obsessives on twitter thought about how he took his tea. He doesn’t idealise this high mountain delicacy like we do. It’s simply another black tea for him. Simple.
So what about you? Are you more like Geoff, whose precarious health status seems to have recovered from the original shock, or me even? Would you sooner pour used motor oil in your Darjeeling than destroy it with moo juice?
Or are you a bit of a Philistine on the whole ‘milk in my Darjeeling‘ debate? It’s just tea, after all.

Devotea - Lahikmajoe Drinks Tea