Chris Hitchens, you are the man.
It is already virtually impossible in the United States, unless you undertake the job yourself, to get a cup or pot of tea that tastes remotely as it ought to. It’s quite common to be served a cup or a pot of water, well off the boil, with the tea bags lying on an adjacent cold plate. Then comes the ridiculous business of pouring the tepid water, dunking the bag until some change in color occurs, and eventually finding some way of disposing of the resulting and dispiriting tampon surrogate.
Aside from actual directions all Americans should read on how to prepare a cup of tea, delicious writing:
Finally, a decent cylindrical mug will preserve the needful heat and flavor for longer than will a shallow and wide-mouthed—how often those attributes seem to go together—teacup.
Shallow & wide-mouthed, ha! I do love him, despite everything. I would add that chamomile or whatever other fruity business is not tea, per se. Tea is a plant, actually a bush. It is not any damn thing in a bag that you put in water to make the water a different flavor. Those things are infusions, not tea (although tea is a type of infusion).
I hope that helps, my fellow Americans. We’d be hella more civilized if we could make a decent cup of tea in this country. I so miss being in a place where there are people from tea-drinking countries (India, China, England, Scotland) around & in great numbers.
& Don’t get me started on this Tea Party business representing these right wing assholes, either.