Kat with a K

Put the kettle on.

Alexander McCall Smith has a lovely piece about the wonders of tea. I loved this line:

"How can you possibly put sugar in your tea?" is a wonderfully superior question to ask of others. That one did the same thing oneself for 20 years or so is beside the point.

It was not easy; families can be split on the subject of tea bags. My wife and I were adamant that we would not use them, even when we were staying in houses where tea bags were all that was available. We did not openly criticise our hostess's tea arrangements, but we began to travel with supplies of loose-leaf tea in our suitcases, along with a teapot. We also acquired a small heating element that could be put into the teapot to bring the water to the boil before the tea was added. Taking private supplies in this way is a big step, as it constitutes a judgment on your hostess – a judgment of inadequacy in a crucial department.
We always take this equipment to hotels, especially in the United States, where tea-making has never fully recovered from the trauma of the Boston Tea Party.