Do we still make tea in a pot?
In each and everyone of us Ulster folk there lurks a Mrs Doyle. If a guest arrives to our home, they are barely over the threshold before we morph into the tea-foisting housekeeper from Father Ted.
"You’ll have a cup of tea," we say. "No, I’m grand,’’ they might reply. Are you sure?", we insist.... "just a wee drap in your hand?’’ (ie a cup of tea and nothing else - no French Fancies, no Custard Creams, no fruit loaf, with half a pound of Dromona slathered on top, no ham sammiches’).We have had a long and abiding love affair with the the beige stuff, but do we still use tea leaves and pot to make our brew, stewed on the hob, until it tastes like tar, or in these fast-paced times, have teabags taken over?
And there’s the biscuit issue - to dip, or not to dip? It’s a minefield.Tea fortifies and soothes. It wakes you up and calms you down. It puts a smile on your mug.