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Your e-Mails

Andrew Hannon	Nicey, just a little note to let you know that your website is "brewing" up a real storm at thompson scientific in limerick, Ireland. There are biscuits and tea debates kicking off left right and centre. I do appreciate how busy you are. but, there is one tea related query that "takes the biscuit" Are pyramidal shaped t-bags scienficially proven to provide a better quality and higher flavour tea. Thanks again for the hours of enjoyment you have provided us with. your tea connoisseur pal, Andrew
	Nicey replies: The crimping of the bag at alternate 90 degrees produces a tetraheadral teabag. Compared to conventional square bags this lowers the surface to volume ratio of the bag towards the idealised spherical tea bag. What is immediately obvious is that this is good for the manufacturer as they can use less bag to tea thereby saving on materials. What is not at all obvious upon casual inspection is if this is a good thing for the tea brewing, although obviously we are told it is. To increase the diffusion of tea from leaf to water it could be assumed that a sphere is the most inefficient shape whilst an infinite plane folded or other wise would be the most efficient. This would seem to indicate that very flat square bags are good. Of course this is a childish oversimplification as the diffusion is taking place within the space occupied by the teabag and not just at the volumetric boundary. So the ability of each tea leaf to circulate and there by potentially encountering higher diffusion gradients has to be considered. Much was made of this 'room to move' at the inception of the pyramid bag and so I suspect they probably did a lot of work in this area. The upside of lower material uses are the potential to use higher spec bag paper as was recently introduced with the pyramid bag.
Nick Scovell	Hallo... I have just enjoyed a few minutes looking at your lovely website. However, deeply disappointed that Royal Scot have been discontinued as have been searching for them for years. Would you know if Princess biscuits are still around? I cannot remember who made them, but they were a favourite of mine in the mid 1980's. A fairly thin, round biscuit with a lattice style top. Large sugar crystals upon them too. Had a melt in the mouth, slightly buttery texture. ALmost like a very light shortbread. Would appreciate some help... Yours hoping, Nick Scovell
	Nicey replies: Oh dear, we get the odd enquiry about them now and again but they've not been seen for years. Indeed till now all we have had is the description, you are the first to put a name to them.
Michael Oates	In our office in Kazakhstan, we have a very nice couple of local ladies who run the tearoom, where tea (and coffee) is freely available at all hours, even with a choice of white/dark sugar. They have taken to selling tasty biscuits and small sweet snacks as well, but I fear that two of these products (photo attached) are not fit for publication...but I thought you might get a private smile from them anyway. Maybe one day you could write a section on "under the counter" biscuits, or even institute an "adult" section on the site for such products. Regards Michael (PS, transliterated, it simply says BISKVIT)
	Nicey replies: A huge NCOTAASD Hoorah for your Kazakhstani tea ladies and their foul mouthed snacks. I feel somehow more worldly wise from this knowledge.
Sam Heely	Dear Nicey, I am writing to you out of concern about the price of Twinings tea bags, which has jumped up a whopping 30% seemingly overnight! This is an outrageous leap in price and leaves us true tea lovers who enjoy a finer tea on a mature pallet, exasberated as to what to do. I don't support blatant money grabbing and that is what this is - no company needs to raise their prices by almost a third just like that. But how can one go without one's favourite tea? At present we have compromised here at number 47 - instead of going for Twinings Darjeeling tea, we are trying "Tesco Finest" brand Darjeeling. Initial results are promising, as the tea last night and today has been no different to how it always is - hot, wet and most certainly delicious. My double sized mug has been filled for a second turn as always. However, Tesco Finest isn't exactly a cheap brand either and while one doesn't wish to put a price on what is essentially a priceless delight in life, one is certainly troubled by the financial strain this could put on a family that...well, just loves to drink tea and goes through it like termites feeding on a master crafted piece of mohogony furniture. Have you any advice for us? We have already written to Tescos to find out if they increased the price or if this is something that came from Twinings themselves. If it is just the supermarket we can of course buy it at it's regular price elsewhere...otherwise I fear that our tea drinking may change forever - though not really, seeing as the new brand we tried tastes exactly the same as the original (and by golly when you throw a cheeky Earl Grey bag into the mix for that outstanding blend only truly appreciated by the veteran tea drinker, the flavour is disguised somewhat anyway by the shock addition of another tea!) Warm Regards Mr Heeley (number 47)
	Nicey replies: Sam, As our tap water seems to have a more pronounced taste than Darjeeling tea we don't drink much of the stuff (this is a comment on both our water and Darjeeling tea). However, Darjeeling isn't called the Champagne of teas for nothing. By enjoying tea such a small region with its specialised high altitude tea gardens you are going to have to deal with such vagaries. Such fluctuations in prices are ironed out in the commodity tea market, with blends being produced from tea from several countries. Perhaps a bit of a tea bag odyssey is called for at number 47.
Greg Shailes Custard Cream Review	Hello Nicey, Greetings to TheWife and the Younger Members of Staff. I was listening to Radio Two the other day and there was a short item about the number of youngsters drinking tea. Apparently a recenty survey shows that its on the up, but unfortunately I didn't really catch all the details though as I wasn't really paying attention. I wondered if NCOTAASD-HQ had heard anything? I must say it's jolly good news if it's true. I'm certainly doing my bit by espousing the benefits tea-drinkership whenever my son will listen. Additionally I've been bribing him with Custard Creams. (Not a biscuit I'd normally give away as I'm rather partial to a packet or two dunked in a nice hot cuppa, but I recently left work and it thanks to my reputation as a high-volume biscuiteer my leaving gift was a catering pack of Custard Creams from the cash and carry. Bliss) Anyway keep up the good work, some days your website is the only thing that keeps me going (except tea of course).
	Nicey replies: Hello Greg, They may have been talking about this story Apparently tea drinking is up in the 20-34 year old bracket for the first time in 3 years. Seems that tea is giving those fizzy drinks with all of their various dissolved bits and bobs in a run for their money. Never mind the health benefits its less plastic bottles to bulldoze into landfill. Good work on the Custard Cream eating too.
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