Tea Tattoo anyone?

So apparently Louis Tomlinson from One Direction has gotten a tea tattoo! To be honest it‘s a pretty basic tattoo, not much skill involved BUT it is a teacup. Apparently he got the tattoo (his 74th!) as a dedication to his favourite line “you can't go to bed without a cup of tea” from the One Direction song Little Things.




Another famous tea tattooed celeb is Ed Sheeran but his tattoos are pretty crazy. Heinz Baked Beans anyone?



It got me thinking about tea and tattoos and would I ever get one. I do love tea and I do love tattoos but for me the link just isn’t there. For me, Chinese tea is a passion and I would be lost without the serenity I achieve from it. But a tea tattoo? I’m just not convinced. I mean what would I get tattooed? I cup of my favourite Oolong while it brews? A Puerh tea cake? Hmmm. I am really not convinced. Maybe what would be better for me would be to get a tattoo of what Chinese tea culture symbolises for me. The Chinese symbol for ceremony perhaps or serenity. Maybe that’s too cheesy but that is how I feel.

How do you feel about it? Is a tea tattoo something you would consider? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Peace out,
Gary the Tea Freak

p.s click here for quite an informative Chinese tea website.

To tea cosy or not to tea cosy…

Well that is the question. If you brew your tea in a teapot, do you use a tea cozy. Does it really work?
It’s a real British tradition to get the teapot out, count the number of guests – 1 teabag for each person plus 1 for the pot (just a quick note, I brew loose tea so I hate this concept) pour in the boiling water and whack on the tea cosy. To you know, keep the teapot nice and cosy....

But does the addition of a tea cosy actually work to keep your tea hotter longer or does it just give Auntie May something to knit when she’s bored?


I currently own a silly amount of teapots but I don’t actually own a tea cosy. After doing some research online I have come to the conclusion that I should definitely get one! Apparently it isn’t just a fad! I guess it makes sense, especially for woollen cosies. You are cold, what do you do? Put on your wool jumper and voila you are nice and toasty again. Your Mao Feng green tea is cooling down to quickly so what do you do? Put on your woollen tea cosy and jobs done!

I think that I have previously had an aversion to tea cosies because I do associate them with “the elderly” and I just saw them as a (sometimes) ugly addition to my beautiful teapot collection. But I feel like I am at a turning point in my life (maybe I am getting older) because I am going to take the step and buy a tea cosy. Or better yet, get one of my talented friends to knit me one.

So the answer to the questions is: Yes to tea cosy. According to good old google search engine, they do actually work and I have been a fool all these years.

Peace out,
Gary the tea freak xx

MADhatter Tea Party

So I am thinking of throwing a tea party. But you know, I am a dude and that’s just not as socially acceptable for me to do as it is for women. Life is unfair sometimes right? Wrong – if you don’t like something then change it. So, to hell with social conventions, if I want to throw a tea party for my friends that’s exactly what I am going to do. But to “man it up” a little I want it to have a theme, I’m pretty set on the whole Mad Hatter thing to be honest.

Obviously I will be the Mad Hatter seeing as I am the host. I’m going to steer clear of the Johnny Depp look from the Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland film and go more for Disney Animation style. But proper mad.

So what do I need to prepare for my party:
Invites – Facebook will do (ah the joy of lazy social media)
Costume – I have a pretty cool green top hat already, I just need to scour some charity shops for the rest.

Food – I am going to ask each of my guests to bring an Alice in Wonderland inspired dish, this could be anything from Eat Me Cupcakes to Queen of Hearts Jam Tarts. But basically I will provide some “finger sandwiches” and my guests can deal with the rest because I will be focusing on the most important thing…
Tea! – Obviously I will serve loose tea only while showing off my fancy collection of Chinese teaware like my Yixings. If I ask my guests to tell me what foods they are bringing I can try to match this to which teas I will serve. Obviously my head is spinning with all the Oolongs I can introduce my friends to but I am actually most excited about Pu Erh. This is a post fermented tea that a lot people turn their noses up at because if I’m honest it does smell a bit weird. But seeing as this is MADhatters Tea Party normalcy shall not apply and my guests will try my aged tea and they will like it…

Well we shall see. I should stop blabbering on here and get my invites prepared. I think I will use the original illustrations for the Facebook event! Exciting!

Peace out,
Gary the Tea Freak x

Keep Calm

“Keep calm, drink tea and carry on”

This is my new mantra. I’m not going to lie, I have a bit of a short temper and it does get me in trouble sometimes. So I have decided to live my life by this new rule. Every time I can feel myself getting tense or stressed I am going to remove myself from the situation and make myself a cup of tea. It sounds simple but will it really work?

Here’s why I think it will..
The art of making tea, especially loose tea is in fact quite therapeutic. Your mind is focused on a simple task but a task that actually does require quite a lot of attention, For example if I was making some Jasmine Pearls ( a favourite Green tea of mine ) I would need to ensure the water temperature was correct, the number of pearls in my infuser were going to be the right ratio to the water I would add and then of course that I don’t steep the tea for too long a time.

During these tasks I am hoping that I will be able to reflect upon whatever trivial thing has upset me and I will move on while I sip my tea enjoying the experience.

So that is why I think it will work.

Do you agree? Or do you have some better tips on how this tea freak can control their stress and anger levels?

Peace out,
Gary the Tea Freak
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A tea related rant

My rant today is about coffee drinkers and how they get preferential treatment over us tea drinkers.

Take *insert name of EVERY big coffee chain* for example, you go in and check out their menu. They have about 25 different coffees; you scan through them hoping that you will find what you are looking for and there…right at the end…you find the tea.

Normally you have a choice of tea or peppermint tea. Yeah cause those are the only teas available apparently. But you know, you aren’t a coffee drinker so what are you going to do? You order the “Tea” and hope for the best. What you are served took the barista about 10 seconds (compared to the minutes they spent making you mates double espresso caramel macchiato or whatever they asked for) and comes in teabag form and sometimes they have even added the milk for you. *GASP* No thank you.

It’s not just me right; you’ve had this type of experience before too? Where as a tea drinker you feel completely overlooked and like you aren’t worthy while your coffee drinking friends are worshipped and waited on hand and foot. OK, I’m exaggerating but would it be so hard for them to get a bit of loose leaf tea? What about Chinese tea? Wouldn’t that make a great addition to the coffee menu that is longer than my arm? Throw in some green tea or oolong tea and give us tea drinkers the time of day we deserve!!

I know I’m being a moan and if I want proper loose leaf tea I should not visit big corporate coffee chains but sometimes I am forced to (coffee drinkers = highly strung and pushy!) and I would just like my tea drinking needs to be shown the same respect as the coffee addicts! Who is with me on this?

Ok, rant over.

Peace out.

Gary the Tea Freak
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