For the tea obsessives amongst you, this is the area where I can point you to interesting tea-related content that I have spotted on my tea-trolley rides round the interweb.

UK Tea Council
Goodness me this is informative. There’s a guild, you know, for outlets who serve excellent tea. There’s award winning tea rooms. There’s tea courses you can sign up for. There’s ’spin the pot’ to find out whose turn it is to make the tea. There’s astro tea-leaf reading. There’s everything!

Lyons Teashops
Even for a mere spring-chicken like me the Lyons Teashop is a legend. Of course I am far too young to have ever been in one, but this site is ruddy genius. There is absolutely acres of information, pictures, anecdotes, history of the firm etc etc.

Designing Britain - Lyon’s Corner Houses
On the subject of Lyons this site from the University of Brighton also has some really good pictures and info - all as part of a module to “provide students with an introduction to the phenomenon of 1950s London coffee bars”. Gosh don’t the youth of today study some strange things nowadays!

Bramah Tea and Coffee Museum
Nice site with general tea info - including a guide on how to make tea. The site states that, “the museum believes everything possible should be done to maintain and if possible improve the quality of tea and coffee offered to the public.” Well Quite. (They have an excellent tea shop too!)

Twinings
There’s not a huge amount of interest on this site, other than the usual puff. However, I swear by Twinings Traditional Afternoon (loose leaf) as the perfect home-brew cuppa, so my loyalty means they get a link. I don’t understand why English Breakfast has become the standard ‘premium’ tea in this country, it’s a bit insipid if you ask me.