An industrywala tells me, rather woefully, that tea is not popular with the young because of social conditioning. That parents have down the years dissuaded children from having the brew because of the caffeine content. My association with tea goes back to the time when I got my little red tea set as a five- year-old. My mother would often pour tea from the big teapot into mine and I supped it feeling all grown-up. A little older she had me participate in a fancy headgear competition where I wore a ‘Tea for Two’ hat. An upturned cardboard box with red check cloth, a plastic tea set, a small vase with a real flower in it made the hat. On stage I said: Two men by the name of Lyons and Gluckstein were asked to sell tea at two pence for a pot, lower than three pence for a cup at the Newcastle exhibition in 1800. That’s how the saying ‘tea for two’ came about.
I guess all this brought me close to tea as a youngster. Now I learn that tea is actually good for kids! Recent research confirms that a modest intake of caffeine is safe for children and a cup or two increases brain power; the fluoride in tea strengthens teeth.
Connoisseur of the brew, James Pratt says, tea is quiet and calls little attention to itself. The young and the restless desire attention; they need a drink that’s palm candy.
Tea packaged as a cola, float or latte is attractive but it is best for tea to wait for this lot to graduate and meet its true self.
