(un)gratitude

What tea goes with losing the World Cup final? Winning would be an easy answer. I'd think of a regal Darjeeling or an exquisite green tea.

Instead, I'd like to consider what the losers get. And they really are losers. The Dutch knew that they couldn't win with pure football, so they chose to play dirty. To foul and bruise and elbow their way to penalties after one hundred and twenty minutes. Thankfully, the Spanish won in a fair way despite the tactics of their opponent.

For the Vice Champions, I'd serve a Japanese Bancha, which is described at Wikipedia in this way:


Bancha (番茶?, coarse tea)
Lower grade of Sencha harvested as a third or fourth flush tea between summer and autumn. Aki-Bancha (autumn Bancha) is not made from entire leaves, but from the trimmed unnecessary twigs of the tea plant.


Rather fitting for a team that played rough and went down complaining. Sort of like Bill Lambeer on the old Detroit Pistons teams. You despise him unless he's on your side, and then you likely think the ends justify the means. And for that sort of thinking you get a steaming mug of unnecessary twigs. It's not bad tea, actually. You were probably hoping for something top-shelf.

And like the Netherlands national football team you'd pout as they did being anointed with their runners-up necklaces. You ungrateful bastard, you.