Your Views

Keep 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!

Type some key words here to search the feedback section

Your e-Mails

Abigail Stynes-Webb	Dear Nicey, I have just been looking back at the archived polls and I saw the results on the poll on Decaffeinated tea. May I please register my outrage on the selfishness and unfeeling response from the very people I felt I had a genuine affinity with. I have been recently diagnosed with a heart problem and so have had to give up caffeine and so decaf tea has been a lifesaver for me as I cannot even think about going out of the door without polishing off at least two cups of tea with my toast in the morning. How could the ncotaasd.com readership be so heartless? It is bad enough that I have basically had to say goodbye to a decent cup of Earl Grey without taking my PG Decaf away from me too! Yours blubbingly, Abi Stynes-Webb
	Nicey replies: Do stop blubbing Ms Stynes-Webb, it wasn't us who voted but our readership at large. Anyhow, my caffeine watershed is 6pm beyond that a cup of proper tea will stop me sleeping. If there is important tea or cake sampling to done beyond this hour as is sometimes the case then Wifey will make me a cup of PG Tips decaf. Of course she complains slightly, but it serves a purpose, other than that I try and make sure I get a proper cuppa at 5:30pm.
Jane Purdon Tunnocks Tea Cake Review	Hello Nicey, I’d like to share how my partner takes his tea because in the tea drinking world it takes all sorts and I think diversity should be celebrated.  He has one enormous, pint-sized mug on the go all day.  He will start the mug off about half an hour after waking up, and use 3 tea bags and skimmed milk.  This will be topped up through the day with further bags, hot water and milk. The key to his tea enjoyment however, is to leave all the bags in so that at the end of the day there are about 7 in the bottom of the enormous mug.  I can also tell you that he is a very happy soul. Right then, being a high-powered lawyer in a very high profile PLC kind of organisation, I’m off now to brew up and grab a Tunnocks Tea Cake (see my previous post) and try that put-a-hole-on-either-side-of-the-teacake-and-blow-a-marshmallow-fountain trick so highly recommended by one of your previous correspondents. Toodlepip Jane Purdon
	Nicey replies: Bit of a hoarder by the sounds of it, whilst celebrating it, I would watch for signs of this developing into a full blown mental condition.
Theo	Hello Nicey, Is this the start of a worrying trend? I'm talking about the Twinings Stephen Fry adverts currently on TV, in which Stephen cheerfully extols to us the virtues of a tea that 'you can drink all day everyday'. Until I witnessed the ad, I'd have considered myself able to drink any tea all day every day, but now I'm not so sure. Reading between the lines, Stephen seems to be gently alluding to the existence of some type of mysterious tea fatigue. Having been in the business for so long, I trust Twinings have done their research on this matter, so if they know something that we don't I'd certainly appreciate being told what it is. All the best Theo
	Nicey replies: Very insightful Theo, yes it does also imply that you can't drink their other teas everyday. Also if the new stuff needs to be drunk all every day, then there will be no tea drinking bandwidth left to drink their other stuff. Have they really thought it through I wonder?
Astrid Lidl's Choco Softies Review	Dear Nicey, Having read your (very old, I know) review of the Lidl Choco Softie/ Super Dickmann and the attached feedback with interest, I'm astonished to find that non of my fellow country people have yet mentioned the ecological niche is DOES actually live in (after Carola already made clear which one it's definitely not in, namely that of the Tunnock's Tea Cake). Now, the niche it IS in is - party food, thus probably partly reflecting the idea of sea side snack that someone opined. One of the main justifications of the Dickmann's existence is a kiddie party game that has kept German birthday boys and girls happy for generations named Negerkusswettessen (Dickmann Eating Competition). Each child is issued with a standard sized Super Dickmann/ Choco Softie and has to eat it of the plate without using their hands. The first one to finish wins. It's an extremely messy pastime, and great fun too. :-D The other main ecological niche for the Dickmann is to provide sustenance for schoolchildren in the eight to 15 age bracket, here in the shape of the Negerkuss- or Matschbrötchen (Dickmann or Mud Roll). Here, a Dickmann is inserted between two halves of a roll and, squeezed flat and immediately eaten. Excellent schoolbus breakfast, particularly if your local bus stop happens to be outside a bakery - and yes, all over Germany bakeries readily cater for this demand, buying Dickmanns in if they don't make their own anyway. I recommend justifying your next Lidl run with necessary research into that concoction, I guarantee the younger members of staff will be nothing short of delighted. Also, I have to admit that even at the ripe old age of 32 I will occasionally get a packet of them and deftly insert them into rolls for consumption - I'm in Ireland now and bakeries here don't do them. BTW - don't let anyone tell you the word Negerkuss has gone out of use. Of course it's extremely politically incorrect, but so far that hasn't stopped anyone from referring to that piece of confectionary by this name. Google "negerkuss" and see for yourself. HAPPY EATING! :-) Astrid
Rupert Bassadone	Hello Nicey, I have no idea if you use this method already, perhaps someone (no doubt, in fact) has thought of this, and passed on it's potential usefulness.  However, in case they haven't, I will share this with you.  And then it is up to you if you wish to pass it on, and indeed, use it. For many years I had trouble with extracting the tea bag from the mug, with a) as little spillage as possible and b) not burning myself.  One of the obvious and well known methods is to press the teabag against the side of the mug with the spoon, which works well, but depending on how full your mug is will gauge the amount of water you manage to strain from the teabag.  Not only this, but it can often cause spillage, if your not very careful.  The alternative would be to use your fingers, often with the tea bag on the spoon, and then pressing occasionally, in between blowing your fingers cold, until you can stand no more and throw the tea bag in the bin.  And of course there is always the option of simply accepting a significant loss of tea and taking the bag straight from the mug, into the bin. Now here's what I do.  Before I continue it's important to note that for this to work in it's most efficient manner, you will need to have a plastic milk carton, one of the normal ones, nothing special, just your average plastic milk carton.  So, after I have dropped the tea bag in my mug (I have a pint mug by the way, it saves me getting up for a refill so often, although I often end up with mildly warm tea towards the end, if I end up drinking it too slowly), filled the mug up with boiling water, added the milk, and gave it a stir (I'm left handed, so find myself stirring my tea anti-clockwise.  But hey, no ones perfect), I then extract the bag using the spoon, and, now this is the important bit, I use the milk cartons lid to press down on the bag (whilst still on the spoon, obviously) to strain it of all it's glorious concentrated tea, essentially creating a teabag sandwich, between the lid and the spoon.  I usually turn the 'sandwich' sideward, so the tea can strain directly into the mug.  And then disposing of the bag couldn't be easier: Once all the tea has been squeezed from the bag, simply manoeuvre the lid and spoon (with teabag safely held between) over the bin, and release the bag. Of course, if you have a compost, then replace 'bin' with such. I hope this knowledge serves some purpose; I could think of no better source to share it with. Much obliged, Rupert Bassadone Bristol, UK
	Nicey replies: Righty ho.
	<< Previous | More >>