Just my cup of tea

My children do not understand my obsession with tea.  I love it.  When I'm at home, you will rarely see me without a cuppa either in my hand or somewhere close at hand.  I probably drink far to much to be honest but I can't help it; nothing makes me feel better than a good cup of tea. I do drink coffee, but only one cup (if that) a day.  I am a tea sort of a girl.

It is the first thing I have in the morning and the last thing I have before I go to bed.  Nice with a biscuit in the afternoon but the biscuits aren't essential.  The tea is.

I come from a family of tea drinkers and as a toddler, I can remember having tea in a sippy cup. Half tea, half milk with one sugar.  I even loved it back then and it has stayed with me. They have been phases of herbal teas, healthy teas, fancy teas but I always come back to a good cup of English tea.  I do drink Red Bush occasionally in an effort to be a little healthier and reduce my caffeine intake but not as often as I should.

Growing up, tea was always from a tea pot.  We had one of those lovely brown chunky tea pots with a stripy knitted tea cosy.  I was always fascinated by the tea making process and how it had to be strained and how many cups we could get out of a seemingly small tea pot, watching the steaming brown liquid pouring out into the cold milk was a fine sight to behold. One day the lid got broken and we walked miles around markets and second hand shops looking for a replacement; which we eventually found, it was slightly the wrong colour and didn't fit properly.  But that did not matter one bit as it meant that the tea pot was back in action. 

As the years passed, tea bags became the norm and the chunky brown teapot was replaced by a metal one with the lid that you pressed the edge to flip it up.For many years, I don't think I saw a tea pot unless it was one of those metal ones in cafes and it has been lovely to see a bit of a return to proper crockery and more people are buying teapots again.  So when this lovely spotty box arrived, I was very excited.  It took me right back.

A beautiful teapot from Emma Bridgewater. It is a thing to be admired and I have admired it a lot.

I have been a fan of Emma Bridgewater for many years and often gaze longingly at the mugs which I now feel compelled to buy to go with my teapot.  Beautifully packaged and designed and really good quality, the tea pot is really sturdy and although it looks as though it withstand daily use and washing.  It is really nice to use something that is made by a British company too. Most importantly, I am happy to report that it makes a fine cup of tea.

I have to admit that I have only used tea bags so far, but I am really excited about buying real tea and a tea strainer to really put it through its paces.  The big question is do I put the milk in the cup and then pour the tea in or vice versa.  I may have to try both a few times and report back.

Then there is the question of keeping my tea warm.  I may have to take up knitting and knit myself a nice cosy to go with it.

I received this Emma Bridgewater teapot free of charge for the purpose of this review.  All opinions and images are my own.