February 10, 2010
Published: 17 Nov 09 16:22 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/23320/20091117/
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What does it take to get a plain old cup of steaming hot tea in Sweden? Paddy Kelly fights the fancy brew brigade and recalls countless grim encounters with tepid beige impostors.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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Last year I tried to serve tea from a teapot to some swedes in my partment.
From there reaction, I may as well have tried to poison them.
I spent nesxt two hours tryting to explain that in Ireland and the UK a teapot is used to serve tea and that it is not a weapon, insult, etc.
I actually have an old large irish kettle/teapot that can hold about 15 litres in my storage. I am seriously considering using that the next time I have Swedish visitors:)
In the UK I just get a cup with a teabag.
Now because it is hard to find decent tea in Sweden, we bring it over from the UK.
Each to their own
I'm a Brit living and working in Malmö, I often see people going to get hot (not boiling) water and a tea bag, walking back to their desk and then putting the teabag in to the water!!! Its just totally unbelievable I keep joking with them that I will give them all a lesson in how to make a proper cup of tea :-)
However, I like the "fancy" flavours of tea and I am particularly fond of green tea... I have found that I can get a better choice of green teas here in Sweden than I could back at home...
For those interested, you can now buy PG tips at some supermarkets in Stockholm, where as before only a handfull of indian shops sold them.
I bow to you and I second your emotion!
Cheers!
Even a stupid englishman can do it.
- I really liked that line. So true. It ain't easy being a tea drinking English boy growing up in Texas. Iced tea is the drink of choice in the lone star state, unfortunately.
Its took 4 years but now my swedish wife has me make a nice cup of tea in the morning instead of her usual coffee.
Mission accomplished
joolz
@Leyarah
Try to check out the latest info on green tea. Apparently it contains some poisonous substance. I tend to stick to simple black tea (from Kenya)
I also do the same.
People go nuts for Swedish coffee back home. I got a Lorry driver to take 200kilo of Swedish Zoega back home for me. My uncle wanted 150 kilo of it, for his office. The rest went home to be distributed amongst family.
We get Zoega in Ireland, but it tastes terrible and is nothing like the coffee by the same brand in Sweden.
When in Ireland, I usually bring back about 5 to 8 kilo of tea bags with me in my lugguage. My Swedish friends go crazy for them, particularly after being shown how to make tea corrrectly with them .
Last night I converted an office in Öskarshamn to making tea corrrectly, while waiting for my friend to finish work. They have seen the light, or the boiling water to be exact.
The Germans sell something called tea, but I am not sure what it actually is.
Meanwhile... I have this theory that people either like english breakfast or earl grey. I personally can't stand earl grey because I think it tastes like dish washing liquid. Does anyone else find this? It seems like every Swede I have met prefers earl grey...?
The first cup of tea i got in Sweden was earl grey. Yuk what's this? i asked, its tea they said. OK never tasted tea like this before i replied lol. Its typical english tea they said. I have been here 35 years now and my Mum bless her still sends me loose tea "Typhoo". Its worth every penny.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2003/mar/26/foodanddrink.shopping1
ha ha
I think everybody can claim to know how to DRINK tea, at least. And I (who wrote this article) don't claim to be a tea connoisseur either - in fact it sounds rather boring. But I do like well-made tea made by people with some level of interest in the process.
Just as I like a nice wine but don't really need to know which flowers it reminds some French dude of.
Have you tried Vetekatten, close to Drottninggatan ..they are supposed to do a pretty decent afternoon tea! There's also afternoon tea at the Grand Hotel, probably a bit on the pricey side but ...
This is like I wandered around London a couple of months ago trying to find a cup of filtered coffee. It was almost impossible. The answer to my humble request was always "sorry, we don't serve coffee", "all our coffee is espresso-based", or "you can have an americano, it tastes almost the same".