A cup of tea

In the Guardian, Matthew Engel complains about the difficulties for the Englishman abroad trying to find a decent cup of tea. Sadly, he is right. The worst little Irish restaurant will serve a decent cup of tea (even if they wash their cups once a year, whether they need it or not). Good American restaurants serve tea that is kindly described as awful. It is not the tea. Granted, basic Lipton Tea is pretty bad, but, Irish delusions notwithstanding, Barry’s Tea is just as bad. The difference is the water temperature. Tea needs boiling water, not water heated up to well below boiling for coffee.

I recall the first apartment I moved into in Ireland, a furnished one (as is typical). The landlady was in dispute with the gas company over who was to fix the hot water heater, which was not working. She seemed entirely unconcerned that the hot water heater would not be working for a week. (This is not as bad as it sounds; the washer and the electric shower heated up their own water, so the water heater was only for the sinks and the bathtub.) She was utterly mortified, however, to discover that the apartment did not have an electric kettle (an invention of even greater value than the bread slicer, which is no mean feat). She was out the door in a panic, and was back with a good one in less than 15 minutes, possibly the fastest she ever moved. No kettle; that was a crisis.