Your ViewsKeep your e-mails pouring in, it's good to know that there are lots of you out there with views and opinions. To help you work out what is what, are now little icons to help you see biscuit related themes. And now you can see at a glance which are the most contested subjects via this graph (requires Flash 6.0 plugin). Please keep your mails coming in to nicey@nicecupofteaandasitdown.com | If you like, you can use this search thingy to find stuff that matches with any of the icons you pick, or use the fantastic free text search, Yay! | Your e-Mails |
Tom England |
Can I just congratulate David Cowie on his splendid idea. I, like Dave, have often found myself throwing away half bottles of milk. In fact I am fully aware when purchasing a bottle, that it is highly unlikely that I will consume the whole contents prior to them seperating into their various
constituents.
It must be borne in mind though that due to the cooling effects of the frozen milk, this process should only be used for cups of tea to be consumed swiftly, ie. to be downed prior to dashing out of the door to work. In all other circumstances a proper cup of tea must be piping hot. But I think
that you will agree Mr Nicey that a cup of tea cool enough to gulp, is infinately better than no cup of tea at all.
I'm just off to try and find those ice cube freezer bag thingies, and a bottle of milk. |
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David Hammond |
Is it actually possible to make a nice cup of tea with a tea bag?
Not entirely, but pitifully few types of good quality tea bags have come to my attention during my life long quest for a decent bag. However, I do have a tip or two. Most tea bags exude an oily slick if left in the cup/mug/pot for more than 30 seconds and the taste is often very far removed from the cups of tea regularly consumed in my youth. Of course this was before the advent of the 'convenience' bag when better quality leaves were usually given better quality attention in most households and catering establishments.
Today, few can be bothered with the messy tea leaf method and most of us have succumbed to the sheer convenience and habit of the tea bag and it is now undoubtedly the tea makers preference.
All is not lost! Find a good quality tea bag producer (my favourite everyday one is Marks & Spencer Gold). Place one bag in a mug, pour on boiling water and vigorously and continuously bash with a teaspoon about 30-40 times (20-30 seconds max.). Remove the bag and dump it. Add milk if you want and hey presto, the best possible result for making tea from this miserable substitute for the real thing.
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Nicey replies: David,
Thanks for enlightening us all on how to make tea, I'm sure all the people who have been stuffing tea bags in their ears, snorting sugar and gluging down cold tap water are feeling fairly foolish about now.
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Scott Wilding |
Dear Nicey
I may be stuck in the old way of doing things, but, I do love our tea lady. She is called Moreen and comes round twice a day to make us tea and make sure we have biscuits.
Can I ask, do you know of any other companies/organisations that have a tea lady? and, is not time to start a campaign to bring back the Moreens of this world. After all, aren't the Moreens our only chance at hitting back at the Vending machines?
Thank You
Scott
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Nicey replies: We can only wonder with awe at the utopian splendor of your catering arrangements.
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David Cowie |
Hi
Now this is going to sound like one of those Viz ideas or even something out of Take a Break magazine but anyway here is a very nearly revolutionary idea.
You see I only ever use milk in tea, I drink coffee black and dont have time for cereal in the mornings. Sometimes I dont even have time for tea (because I believe that 10mins extra in bed is approx equal to a cup of tea).
Because of this I was finding that I was throwing out alot of unused milk.
So I came up with the following idea - you know those freezer bags which you fill with water to make ice cubes? Guess what?! Yep fill 'em full of milk and hey presto! Milk Cubes!
I find that one cube is sufficient (I like my tea on the strong side) and that after infusing in a cup whilst I shower in the mornings one milk cube makes a perfect cup of tea which is just on the right side of hot / drinkable.
What do you think?! |
Nicey replies: I think it gets a cautious Rocket Science icon.
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Nancy Price |
Dear Nicey
When i started my present job, i was very pleasantly surprised to find one such hot drinks machines in place of the standard d-i-y tea and coffee area. Having once suffered terribly at the hands of two unscrupulous employers who forced me to make tea for them several times a day to assert their superiority, i was even quite relieved. A year on, and i am now adamant that this machine is, by far, the very worse of its kind.
The vile liquids it excretes costs 20p a shot. It blatently steals money from people and runs out of cups at least once a week. It is such an archaic machine that it doesn't even alert you to these cup shortages. It happily takes your 20p and pours your drink into the empty space where a cup should be, literallly pouring your money down the drain. Sometimes it's days before it's workman turns up to fix this. Thirsty and desperate workers stand there poised with flimsy cups stolen from the mineral water machine, waiting for the crutial moment to 'catch' their drinks and to do so with pin-point accuracy. To do this successfully takes much skill and often results in half empty cups, stained shirt sleeves, scolded hands and wet shoes.
The mineral water cups go worryingly floppy when used in this manner, proving exactly why they are for chilled mineral water and not warm gunk. All we can do is hope that we are not poisoning our bodies with dangerous plastic chemicals from these half melted cups, but then again it's fair to say that drinking from the machine itself poses as much, if not more of a health risk.
In desperation, i purchased a travel kettle from Argos, which is now kept discretely on a spare chair in my office. Making 'proper' tea, however, has turned out to be a real misson. First the kettle has to be taken to the only source of drinking water, the mineral water machine, and cheekily filled up in front of a room full of people. Then fresh milk has to be purchased from the garage down the road (no fridge here). The making of the tea involves kneeling down on the floor in a 'camping holiday' style and using a spare screwdriver to fish out the tea bag. All this hassle means that i now very rarely use the kettle and continue to be bullied, deceived and poisoned by our evil vending machine. They should all be scrapped, starting with the one in my office.
Yours Sincerely
Nancy Price |
Nicey replies: Your mail is beyond fantastic, where do you work in such pampered luxury a Siberian Salt mine?
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