A note in praise of Whittard tea

Phil went out and bought some milk today, more milk even than Father Ian left in the first place, almost too much to fit into a single cow, which meant that we could all have tea this afternoon.

Andrew Ormerod bravely decided to experiment with leaf tea. Alas, this was not a successful experiment, but a decidedly unsuccessful one, producing tea which was weak and undrinkable in spite of the fact that Andrew had precisely followed the amount of tealeaves per six cup teapot recommended by Whittard of Chelsea.

Fortunately, Whittard of Chelsea provide a helpline which I phoned for advice. The woman at the end of the line was extremely obliging and most helpful; initially, she was as confused as us about the constituency of the tea, but as we chatted it transpired that our problem was a confusion of cup sizes. When Whittard of Chelsea say "cup", they mean a properly small teacup like the Queen might have, and not a mug. So what Andrew had assumed to be a six cup teapot is probably more like a ten cup teapot. The Whittard lady suggested that we try five heaped teaspoons rather than three, and helpful said that we were to phone her back if we had any more problems.

We haven't dared to dabble in leaf tea since, in fact, so we haven't phoned back, but it's useful to know that such help exists.

James Aylett says that the instructions are not sufficiently "explicit". But he is very common, and this is Whittard of Chelsea for goodness' sake!