h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

They sold 15 or 30 different kinds of tea: white, green and black. They would brew every cup to take away in a pot for three minutes. They introduced me to teas I had never heard of. They are non-corporate good guys in their 40s who were fighting back the starbuckification of the planet. I'll miss their tea-shop; I'll miss them.

That's a great loss. A good tea-shop is vitally important.

I just feel so bad for them. They are two of the good guys. And then there are two or three girls out of work now too....

Plus, of course, I'm back to shite tea...

B

I think I know the one. I bought some green tea from them when we were on honeymoon in Edinburgh.

B

Starbuckification? What does a coffee shop have to do with tea?

There are websites where you can order your favorite teas, either loose or in teabags. My favorite tea is wild blackcurrant, which is imported from Heath and Heather [I think it's in Scotland].

Was the tea shop special because of ambience, or pastries, or the cheerful, helpful staff? Any or all of these can make the loss of such a place tragic.

sorry to hear this Ben.

I hope you don't mind me telling you that my partner Gordon has engaged the services of a small shop in Cleethorpes to provide the catering for his mother's funeral. This stems from us popping in there one rainy day for a and slice of when we first began going out together. I'm touched that he remembered how nice the place was, how friendly the staff were, and how enjoyable our little treat was.

What a lovely gesture, GB.

Paul, it's not about buying tealeaves. It's about two guys throwing their heart into something and having the rug pulled out from underneath.

In the same way that bad money drives out good, bad coffee has driven out good tea. The coffee shops sell coffee for people who don't like coffee (what has almond syrup got to do with coffee?) If they don't care about coffee, they REALLY don't care about tea.

I should add that the two or three quid per day that people will spend on a hot drink, they are spending on hot, sweet, frothy "coffee" rather than on a decent cup of tea. THAT is what starbucks has to do with tea. It's stolen the market for it.

When I say this, remember that I'm a Texan...

The only thing I ever buy at Starburks is their Tazo iced tea. It's the cheapest drink on their menu around here. I don't go out of my way for it either. If I happen to be in a store with a starburks in it and I happen to feel thirsty, I'll get one. Right now I have an unused $5 card for starburks sitting next to my computer. I really don't know when I'll use it. That one $5 card will buy about 2.33 large (yes, LARGE, it's a perfectly good word) teas.

The water Starbucks use is neither fresh nor hot, it's bags not leaf and it's nasty cheap blends.

But apart from that I guess it's brown and wet.....

Sorry, I am feelnig spitty today.

B

I wouldn't buy tea in a coffee shop, but then I wouldn't (until recently when proper coffee machines began to appear) have bought coffee in a tea shop.

These days most 'tea' shops do real rather than instant coffee, although some insist on having those bean-to-cup machines that use powdered milk .

Tea shops suffer partly because of lack of brand recognition for people looking for a hot drink in an unfamiliar place, and partly because some resisted doing real coffee for a long, long time. Don't think I'm alone in that I'd rather drink coffee than tea a lot of the time, and not with those disgusting syrups in either. Around here they tend to be cafes rather than coffee or tea shops, and any that have Tea Shop in their name have a board somewhere prominent with the lattes and cappuccinos on. And cakes, they all have cakes that look far, far better than the ones in Starta Republic.

It sounds a real shame yours has closed though Ben.

You are bang on all the buttons Kelli.

This wasn't a tea-shop so much as a coffee-shopt that specialised in tea. It had the sofa / wifi / newspaper ambience which Starbucks made so popular; it just treated tea with respect. I've no idea what their coffee was like; probably ok. But it had little time for herby nonsense (down at the bottom of the menu and labelled "not really tea").

Sorry, Ben. I was just trying to get my mind around what had happened. I almost never go to Starbucks, so I don't know what it offers, except for expensive, overpriced stuff. They held a mandatory course a couple years ago for all their baristas (whatever those are), because word had leaked out that Starbucks didn't provide particularly good latte (or was it cappuccino? I can't remember.)

Anyway, my latest 42-word story is about tea, so I'm posting it here for your perusal before I post it in the "Miscellaneous 42-word stories" thread in Create:


“Such an amazing dog!” the Deacon exclaimed as Sweety used her paws to pour tea and add sugar. “Why the ‘Beware of the dog’ sign out front?”

“You’ll see,” I said.” Taste your tea.”

“It’s too sweet!”

“My last dog was Nosugar.”

And then some people are overly happy that Star*ucks comes to Estonia (and Subway as well). Sort of makes it a *real* country. Well, I'd prefer a surreal country then.

In Sweden, we have Starbucks, and Subway, and Wayne's and Espresso House ... and at the general commuting centres, there's usually only one option (of the above). Espresso House do have nice iced tea during the summer though...

As a grand master of Tea and Toast, its a real shame

There was a Starbucks in the lobby of my old office building, and I would occasionally pick up an iced thai (with soymilk) when it was really hot out, but I don't care for their coffee as I think it tastes burnt.

I'm probably a real novice compared to you when it comes to tea. I do mail order most of mine, because I prefer loose leaf, but there are a couple of blends I like that come in bags and I'll use them, too (though I appreciate herbal teas are not actually tea, but tisanes or infusions). My SIL prescribes herbal infusions for me for treatment of my asthma and my thyroid (she's a licensed TCM practitioner) but those don't really count because I don't drink them for enjoyment.

I guess the point of that ramble was that usually, if I want good tea, I mail order or go to a specialty shop, but I hardly ever go to chain coffee shops (or chain restaurants, really, for that matter). And it always makes me cry a little when a lovely, independent local business goes under- especially in areas that are experiencing proliferation of the strip mall /chain type places. I'm so sorry your te shop is closed, and I am really sorry for its owners as well.

thai-= chai.

I knew that looked wrong...