Last week I laughed out loud at the Yorkshire Tea video which featured the social distancing tea pot – pure genius.  The creativity reeled me in and let’s face it, who doesn’t love a cuppa while they’re working?  The tea trolley in the video reminded me of my first proper job and the tea lady who delivered steaming hot drinks to our desks every single day.  Biscuits most days and squidgy doughnuts on Friday afternoons.

A new job and fresh challenges.  Sadie the tea lady would push her refreshment trolley around the corridors of the Town Hall with such pride.  Birthdays were celebrated with Sadie’s homemade bread pudding.  Raisins soaked overnight in port, bread soaked in Guinness and the pudding served warm from underneath the tea urn.  Sadie loved her job and made certain that we did, too.  Her trolley was always a welcome sight and the queue was a good excuse to catch up on Town Hall gossip.

I developed a taste for proper tea when I worked in St. James’s and a short walk from Fortnum and Mason.  Come to think of it I developed a taste for luxury perfume for the same reason!  No more tea ladies: just a tea rota pinned to the communal kitchen noticeboard, although we were enticed by luxury teas from either Fortnum’s or Jackson’s of Piccadilly.  Here Birthdays were made all the more exciting with a Black Forrest Gateau from Jackson’s.  And trust me, this communal kitchen was definitely where the magic happened.

I’m a fan of tea in all its guises although I dislike tea with milk.  Early memories of drinking tea at my Gran’s now fill me with horror; lots of full-cream milk and far too much sugar although I persevered.  My Dad’s tea was the best: hot, strong and hardly any milk. My Mum taught me the benefits of warming the teapot, loose tea and drinking from a bone china cup, although I’m far less sophisticated.  Most times it’s a Yorkshire tea bag and a mug which satisfies my thirst.  That said, I’m definitely with Mum on the bone china front.  My favourite tea set (for two) is by Wedgewood: it’s about 30 years old; a leaving gift from a recruiter; she always insisted on bone china too.

I’m not certain when the office drinks machine first appeared in my career, although the beige plastic cups matched the beige of their contents.  Drinks machine tea was definitely off the menu for me and the coffee wasn’t much better.  Time to buy a takeaway cappuccino on my way into work and pick up a couple of bottles of water to drink during the day.  Onsite baristas have now replaced the tea ladies of the 70s and working from home has created its own refreshment freedoms.  I’m missing out on the social distancing teapot, so I’ll just need to watch the video again.

Over the years I’ve enjoyed afternoon tea at several iconic locations although there’s nothing quite like an incredibly early morning mug of tea at Covent Garden flower market.  I watched in amazement as the rows of thick china mugs were filled with steaming hot liquid in a continuous stream until the teapot was emptied. 

Where have you had your best “cuppa” moments?  Are you missing the office kitchen?  What are your top tea tips?  Let’s start the conversation I’d love to hear from you.

• My favourite London afternoon tea spot is The Goring Hotel

• And in Yorkshire, it’s Bettys with a Fat Rascal

• Tea arrived in England from Asia in the 1650s

• Fortnum and Mason Black Bohea tea was one of the first products offered for sale in 1707 (Queen Anne’s reign)

• Afternoon tea became popular in the 1800s

• Bettys tea rooms first opened in Harrogate in 1919

• Tea bags launched in the UK by Tetley in 1953

• Costa Coffee roastery set up in the UK in 1978, first Coffee Shop in London in 1981