No bilge water allowed.

When it comes to my morning cup of hot tea, I am picky.  VERRRRRY picky. Unlike coffee, tea has a delicate flavor that is easily overpowered by any chemicals in the water with which you make the tea.

Funnily enough, I don't like a chemical taste in my cup.

I'm persnickety.

Tea must be made with filtered water from our home tap or, if I am away from home, bottled water. I never order tea in a restaurant because I know they are making it with their cruddy tap water. I drink coffee in a restaurant because you can't taste the chemicals through the coffee (at least, I can't).

I'm picky about the kind of tea, too.  I greatly prefer English tea to American supermarket brands, but that gets pricey, let me tell you.  A few years ago, a friend put me on to P&G Tips tea from England -- which I can buy at the British import store in Salt Lake City. It's a bit pricier than our supermarket brands but not as pricey as the small boxes of English Breakfast Tea from the "boutique" tea brands. I really like P&G Tips. A lot. I carry a small baggie of it in my luggage so that I'm never out of it when I'm traveling.

Two weeks ago I found that my large economy size box of P&G Tips (160 bags, folks!) was down to its last ten or so bags. That's five days' supply. And that was a problem because I wasn't going to be in Salt Lake any time soon. I headed to the local grocery to buy a small box of the boutique tea to tide me over.  While there I noticed a newcomer to the ranks of supermarket tea: Tetley British Blend.

I dithered.  The price was right, that's for sure, but what if I hated it? My morning cup of tea is part of how I start my day. 

If it's bilge water, the day goes downhill from there.

So I purchased both boxes.  The boutique-y tea and the Tetley British Blend. Figured if I hated it, I'd keep it to serve my guests.  I'm nice that way.

To my utter surprise, the Tetley British Blend tastes just about exactly like my beloved P&G Tips!  I'm impressed. REALLY impressed!

And happy, too, let me tell you, because my wallet is retaining more of the green stuff inside if I buy Tetley British Blend in the supermarket than if I buy P&G Tips at the import store.

It will be one good morning after another for the foreseeable future.

- Catherine

PS -- disclaimer: I have no financial interest in any tea manufacturing company. Or in any company, for that matter.