Women drinking tea…

At first, I thought it would be easy to write about that topic and say out loud that the tea drinkers are not all old grannies drinking their tea in English china but I found out I was wrong.

Now, I will probably have lost half the people reading this and angered the remaining half but if you can bear with me for a few more lines, I will try to explain why I found that out.

So why?

Because after thinking a lot about it, after watching people at their places, at work, in tea salons,… I found out that there is no such things as a specific or more womanly way of drinking tea. It is more the result of a tea culture (the famous 5 o’clock tea, the Japanese tea ceremony, the Chinese way of doing it,…) and of personal preferences/experiences.

True, most of us like to take our time to drink our tea and to appreciate it but we can also prepare and drink it as quickly (and perhaps even quicker) as any coffee drinker.

Why don’t we do that more often?

This comes from the spirit behind tea drinking and in this way, drinking tea is more akin to wine drinking than to coffee drinking.

Would anyone think that wine drinkers that take their time are old grannies and grandpas? The answer is no. Why? Because in the French culture, it is the way, wine must be drunk and the French think that people drinking it like the Russians are supposed to drink vodka (one shot and all down) are sinning. To see that, just send a French to a Scandinavian party and look at his face when they will drink everything quicker than their shadow as if it was water.

But to come back to the initial idea, people who think that tea drinkers are old grannies drinking their 5 o’clock tea with their small cakes are all wrong

This is just one way of drinking tea and people might go from one to another depending what they think is right, on their mood, the people they are with, the places they are in, the teas they are drinking…

So whether or not you are in a hurry or have time, are alone or with friends, are travelling or at home, working or relaxing, you are more than welcome to make yourself a tea and to drink it.

I am sure you will find a way to enjoy it.

This is indeed a good question and one that for now has no final or simple answer.

I plan to post things related to the history and economics of tea (hence the name), be them stories about tea trading now and then, tea production, info on tea companies (not on their products but more on what they do, how they do it…), book reviews and other crazy ideas I have in my mind.

I hope to turn this blog into something different while making it appealing and informative for all of you : in other words, I hope to bring some added value to you and to the wonderful world of tea.

I might be a little long between two updates but it takes time to read all the info I have and turn into something interesting for all of us.

Do not hesitate to comment and to try to influence me by giving me advices, info, book titles, thesis…