So Sofia and I were invited to the lovely offices of Teapigs, who were celebrating 10 years of business and the founders discussed the way teas are made and what makes them different. Whatever happened to the joy of having a good cuppa I wonder?

I love this tea company (check them out here), their ethos and quality of tea is truly amazing. To be clear, this is not a sponsored blog post.. I just really love their tea! Things you love you just cant stop talking about right? Anyway back to tea, I got to sample their limited edition tea jelly and ice cream and that’s when Sofia turned round and said ‘look mummy your tea is pink’.

Now although we are strong coffee drinkers I recently discovered Teapigs also make ‘Yerba Mate’ tea, which originates from South America and in particular the Guaranies. This is amazing on two fronts; a) it’s a relatively unknown drink and rare to find in tea bag form and b) The herbs originate from Inca tribes my family belong to. That’s right, these guys below!

I do have some German and other blood mixed in but a lot of the best Yerba mate is made in good ol’ Paraguay! Anyway I can go on and on about how amazing the Yerba Mate tea is, and how comfortable it is dressing like this, but I digress.

I realised that although coffee is fast becoming a modern ever day staple, and by looking at all the quotes, giphs and meme’s on social media, it’s cool to love coffee too. Perhaps some thought should be given to the good old tea bag, the place where it started for most of us. Teapigs have a mission ‘to get the nation drinking real tea again’, and with whole leaf tea, whole leaf herbs, whole berries, whole spices and whole flowers (not the dusty stuff you’ll find in regular paper teabags), it gets quite exciting! Tea is an alternative to the jittery high of 3 flat whites, and it can give you a cleaner and calmer uplift, without the addiction or withdrawal symptoms. 

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Back in the 70s, tea consumption per person was about 68 grams per week and is now less than 25 grams! Some argue that the death of tea is because young people look at a cuppa as symbolic of something from the past but studies (including this one) have also revealed that regular tea drinking can decrease the risk of depression by up to 31 percent.

Besides, the ceremony of making tea is half the joy for most of us.. from the way it’s made to the tea set itself. Take Arshad Khan here, the ‘dreamy-eyed’ chai wala who went viral with this image and then became a model.  Would he have been nearly this enigmatic handing over a plastic cup with your name written on it?

… Time to put the kettle on I think.