give us a slug of that Builder's Tea, yeah?

imagine the tea these builders might've brewed

A friend recently mentioned Builder's Tea to me, and I realised that I've never bothered writing about this before. It's not common parlance outside of Britain (not that I'm aware of), but it's such an evocative term. Here's what Wikipedia says about Builder's Tea.

It describes so brilliantly that milky, sugary sludge of black tea that your everyday typical British construction worker carries to the building site in his flask everyday. Sure, some drink it without milk and even more rare is a flask filled with Builder's Tea that has no sugar. The stuff is too strong. Too bitter.

You can drink it black, but it can't be good for you.

If you didn't have a look at Tea Trade Peter's account of drinking insanely strong black tea in Kosovo while he was serving in the army, do yourself a favour. Go read it. You can find it at:

Russian prison tea, Outpost Terminator and me

Go ahead and look now. I'll wait while you're gone. It's ok. I have time.

Doesn't that sound enticing and dangerous and delicious all at the same time?

I love these sorts of tea that people drink in such an unassuming manner. A little like the Grandpa Tea that I wrote about months ago. Throw leaves in a pot, add boiling water, wait a bit, drink it down, repeat with the same leaves ad infinitum.

You could be drinking all day from the same pinch of leaves if you do it right. Doesn't that sound great? It's the simplicity that gets me every time. Just me, some decent tea leaves and boiling hot water. What more could you want?

Drinking tea for a second wind

Arrived in Weimar for completely non-tea-related reasons, and an already long day stretched out ahead of me.  There was an Onion Festival going on over the last three days, and to be honest I couldn't wait to drop off my bags and go see what the fuss was all about.

Before rushing back out the door, I decided to quickly brew a flask of tea.  I'd been sent some Darjeeling teabags from Hampstead Tea, and this is exactly the sort of situation I've chosen to use them.  Perfect on the go.

Then there was a lot of walking.  I have a pair of eager-to-run hunting dogs (Hungarian Vizslas).  I know quite a bit about walking.  This was a demanding amount of walking even by my standards.  But I endured.  There were onions to be sampled.  Onion soup, onion bread, onion cake...if this were an onion blog, I'd have quite a blogpost for you.

But it's not.  It's a humble teablog.  So?  What do I have to say about tea?

Well, at some point the sun was shining, my legs were rebelling, and I was getting unexpectedly irritable. At that point, a park appeared before me like an oasis in the desert, and I suddenly remembered the flask of hot, delicious Darjeeling in my bag.

Quite simple when such an opportunity presents itself.  Sitting in the sunny rays and sipping that brown luscious goodness, I was once again surprised by something I've experienced again and again and again.

There's nothing that'll give me a second wind quite as nice as a cup, or even an entire flask, of tea.  It's somehow simultaneously relaxing and invigorating.  Sometimes I'm curious how that works exactly.  Today I was simply grateful.

your teablogger just before enjoyment of tea