This is minor stuff compared with the big league rants such as we see from @The_Devotea but I was near a tea/coffee machine in a car showroom yesterday. You know the sort of thing, take a sachet and pop it in the pod then press a button. Designed to make you feel you had a hand in the process.

Instead of bemoaning the fact that there were seven different styles of coffee and only one tea I decided to forgo the ‘pleasure’ of a hot beverage and nicked a sachet of tea instead. It did claim to be real loose leaf English Breakfast, so it was time to get the scissors out!

OK, there’s no time for a proper brew when hot water is pulsed through a vacuum pack, so that’s why the leaves are ground almost to dust; but what a shame not to have the pleasure of watching the leaves expand and unfurl, or to see the colour developing during the steep.

As if you couldn’t guess, that’s it on the left. On the right is 1910 English Breakfast from @The_Devotea’s UK blender.

There’s little chance to persuade people to explore the wonders of tea if this machine stuff is the best we can do in UK. Yes, it’s convenient for customers in business places, but what’s frightening is that it’s actually better than some of the tea we see in cafes.

Rant over and off to spread the word.