Morning tea

[Ollie]

Our computer company sits in a 'quad' of buildings, with good bakeries and coffeeshops that double as all-nite eateries for the vampire-workers. And for us 5-a.m.-ers, too. We get products to evaluate all the time, and occasionally those include those thousand-dollar projector units. What better to test than uneven or non-white walls of coffeeshops? we thought. We'd load a DVD onto that notebook, hook it's second-display to that projector and, voila, Mary Astor was fidgeting not just in front of Sam Spade, but an entire coffeeshop.

Of course, productivity and the so-called "15-minute" portion of coffeebreaks took a SERIOUS hit.

"But we're testing these products! We HAVE to evaluate them properly!" And if a week-long test was good, two weeks was better. Four months later, we were FINALLY started to collect a consensus on those first two projector units. Then someone sent us a couple of more for evaluation. Hmmm...

It WAS an hysterical thread that my notes would occasionally be absorbed by masses of jived-up coffeedrinkers. There were many, many SOL laffing moments. SPIT OUT LOUD, I mean. And yeah, when it's THAT kind of laughter, it's "laFFing". Definitely.

[butterscotchgreer]

gee wiz! i didnt know that. i wasnt paying attention. silly me! here is the picture. heehee!

thanks Chris and dahlink for showing me how to actually post the pic so everyone can see it. i feel like im neglecting everyone and im hating this. so im trying my hardest to come chat with you guys more. please forgive me for coming and going so much lately.

[MissGoddess]

Ok, naughty Tea, we forgive you. Are there any prickly pears left on the lot?

I hope we aren't inviting that odious Mr Wickham to tea! Ha! Where is Mr Darcy??
He'll be so very glad to see him.

[stuart.uk]

As Celia Johnson said in This Happy Breed, 'That's right dear, nothing like a nice cup of tea before you go to bed.' There's also the scene where she sits with her mother and sister in law, enjoying tea, just minutes before finding out her son and his wife had been killed in a car accident

Forgive me, but being British I thought very few Americans took tea, preffering coffee. I remember in Sanctuary Amanda Tapping's brit Dr. Helen Magnus referred to coffee as 'That horrible brown stuff,' She'd been in a plane crash and aliens had taken bodily form of the other passengers, who were being killed off. There were two Helen's and her male side-kick couldn't tell the difference until she asked for a drink of coffee, instead of Helen's preferred tea. That saved the real Helen's life.

That story reminds me of Tony Robinson's Baldrick, as he invents different ways of making coffee in Black Adder Goes Forth in the trenches of France

In the classic war film Way To The Stars John Mills and Basil Radford are watching American crewmen playing baseball on an RAF airfield. Not understanding the game, Mills turns to his friend, 'Tea,' There is also another scene in the film where Mills, Radford and the chaplin talk about American eating habits, like drinking coffee and eating peanut butter. I just found out today director Anthony Asquith wanted Burgess Merideth to play the part of the main American character, instead of Little Women's Douglass Montgomery who played and was very good in the part. However, as the film isn't to well known in the States, I wonder whether Merideth's name might have sold the film better in the U.S.



Vivien Leigh was in a tea room waiting for Robert Taylor's mother in Waterloo Bridge. Anthony Hopkins, Edward, son of Cedric, Hardwick, had tea with Debra Winger in Shadowlands also in tea room.

I was wondering if Scones are ever had with tea in America

[JackFavell]

Lovely post, Stuart!

Frankly, I can't abide coffee. Tea is soothing, especially Earl Grey. I drink it in the evening. My preference in the morning is English Breakfast. For afternoon, Prince of Wales is growing on me. It has a rather smoky flavor that I though was dreadfully like tobacco at first, but I've discovered that I like it now. It was created by Twinings for Edward VIII.

In my house, scones are a staple. I make them about once a month, and we gobble them up as fast as we can.

For years I have been trying to figure out the name of a movie in which two women are having tea outside, when suddenly an air raid takes place. I always thought it was This Happy Breed , but after having watched it recently, I find that it wasn't. The two women are scared during the bombing but remain very stiff upper lip calm, almost funny, commenting on the situation. It might be a Powell-Pressburger film, but I am not sure.

Your description of Sanctuary makes me want to rush out and get a copy of this movie. Tea saves the day.

My favorite Blackadder is series 2, mainly because of Miranda Richardson and Hugh Laurie.

[stuart.uk]

Thanks Jack

Sactuary was a Canadian tv series made more for the internet than anything else, but was networked on tv. However, I only discovered it when I went digital. I love the idea of a woman born in Victorian England living in 21'st Century American looking no more than 40. I even wrote a novel with much the same idea, only it's completely in every other way to the show

[stuart.uk]

Thanks Jack

Sactuary was a Canadian tv series made more for the internet than anything else, but was networked on tv. However, I only discovered it when I went digital. I love the idea of a woman born in Victorian England living in 21'st Century American looking no more than 40. I even wrote a novel with much the same idea, only it's completely in every other way to the show[/quote]

[JackFavell]

Stuart -

You wrote a novel? I am very impressed!

Butterscotchie -

I do hope Mr. Darcy will come to tea, I don't like that Mr. Wickham, even if he is rather charming.....

[stuart.uk]

Actually I've written 4, but i'm not so impressed. They're all still on my desk top. I've tried to get them published, but while I've had some positive feetback, no luck there.
In one there are plenty of tea breaks

[JackFavell]

In one there are plenty of tea breaks

[Ollie]

In every coffeehouse I can think of, a variety of teas are offered. I see quite a few tea houses (invariably named "tea rooms") but every one I can think of is exclusively serving teas. Coffeehouses generally, but not all, have some pastry offerings, whereas I've never been to a tea-room that didn't offer some version of a scone or other biscuit.

The tea-rooms have their own divisions - the Proper Stuff vs. the hippie "Any leaf can brew a tea" style, which often produces fragrances only Revlon and Coco Chanel can appreciate. (I remember laughing at scenes of liquor-drinking comics, who'd often dab a bit behind their ears, plaster their hair flat, etc. Some of them should use the peach-avocado-melon teas... good grief... "What is that stuff? Do you take it on picnics, spread it away from the food and know every insect will head directly for THAT stuff?!!") On the other hand, there ARE silver linings to everything!

Then there's the inevitable Hot-Tea vs. Iced-Tea battle, which always begins with the Proper Tea crowd's loud booing. Until they eat the right kind of salsa & chips, and then iced tea becomes their favorite guzzling table companion.

[JackFavell]

We have TWO coffeehouses right down the street from us, one of which has a huge selection of loose tea, mostly oriental, with odd names like Green Dragon or Taiwan High Mountain. Both houses carry pastries.

I can't stand flavored or herbal teas, although there is a currant tea put out by Ahmad that is not bad, however, it includes some black tea. Chamomile is yucky.

I am curious - in the UK, are flavored scones all the rage? Here it seems that muffins and scones must have as many flavors as those mango avocado melon teas... there are lemon ginger scones, orange cranberry, chocolate chip, cinnamon, maple, blueberry, apple spice, strawberry, pumpkin spice... you name it.

[mrsl]

I'm with you on the flavored teas. I don't care for them at all, but I do like the flavored creamers for coffee. I drink both although coffee is more prominent, but not brewed coffee, I actually prefer Folgers instant coffee, with vanilla/caramel flavored creamer.

At the present moment however, I am definitely drinking tea. After three years, my doctor finally got her wish, she insists I get a flu shot ever Fall, and this year it finally took -- I am down with the flu. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear that when I break my appointment for tomorrow. Anyway, the tea I drink is a blend from Gevalia called Breakfast Blend and until I tasted it, I didn't know what 'full bodied' taste was. It's delicious.
.

[knitwit45]

Oh, Anne, so sorry to hear you're ill Hope you've got lots of good movies to watch, lots of juices and liquids and a cozy robe to wrap around you Be better soon!
Nancy

[MissGoddess]

My favorite are the breakfast teas and Barry's Irish black tea. I will drink chamomile
at bedtime and green tea for the "clean" feeling it gives me, but they are not favorites.
I always have milk with my regular tea, and prefer to sweeten it with honey, not sugar.

The nicest "tea room" I have been in is Ladurée, in Paris.