About tea and other things
October 4th, 2008 | Published in India & Around, Personal, Photography, Sports & Adventure, Travel, Wining & Dining | 22 Comments
Tea happens to be my favourite beverage. Over the years, I’ve disposed off the need for milk (and sugar in most cases) to get the real taste of tea. I read this yesterday while browsing through a book and liked it so much, I made a note of it: “Tea is quiet and it takes a quiet palate to appreciate something that calls so little attention to itself.” — James Norwood Pratt in the New Tea Lover’s Treasury. So true!
Just next door to where I’m staying here at Fort Kochi, I was delighted to find a small quaint tea room called Tpot. With kettles of different sizes and colours everywhere, and rustic furniture — the place is a really comforting and somewhere you can spend hours reading a book. More about it in the blog later.
I’ve also done quite a bit of eating here (it will take me many marathons to shed all my sins :-). After yesterday’s disappointing dinner, today’s breakfast too was very bad — I tried a French toast at a place called Elite hotel (since it was the only joint open early morning) and I have no idea what they put in it, but I couldn’t get through even one toast! Lunch was more memorable — just finished a garden salad followed by a delicious coconut flavoured fish curry and rice at the Old Courtyard.
Early morning today, I went out on a boat ride and caught the fishermen in action as they worked on the Chinese fishing nets. It was quite an interesting sight as they worked the nets continuously trying to bring in the catch of the day — but it seemed to be a day of no or poor yield as hardly any fish were coming up in the nets.
The synagogue was closed, today being a holiday so I had to be happy with a glimpse from outside. The Dutch palace was quite fascinating and they’re renovating the place now and doing it up — there’s much history there. The only thing left on the agenda and that didn’t get done are two museums and they’re actually close by but laziness has now set in.
I’m planning to take it easy for the next couple of hours, maybe head off for a snooze and then make my way towards the bus station to head back to Bangalore. But before I do that, I have just enough time for one last cuppa at the Tpot!
October 4th, 2008 at 7:05 pm (#)
Cheers, I am a big chai drinker myself, Without milk and sugar ofcourse. Happy travels.
October 5th, 2008 at 4:28 am (#)
“but it seemed to be a day of no or poor yield as hardly any fish were coming up in the nets”
Why should the poor fish get into his trap (net)…? I think they are getting smarter…
Those with persian boats who can go little deeper into the sea catch some good amount of fish. Those spreading it near shore are unlikly to catch much
October 5th, 2008 at 1:35 pm (#)
bonjour
October 6th, 2008 at 11:58 pm (#)
Hi, I just booked myself at The Old Courtyard for a couple of days next month? How is the place??
October 7th, 2008 at 1:38 am (#)
An excellent shot, You need to include this in your future exhibits. Love the composition of that very thoughtful shot. You have included all that is circular in varying sizes ofcourse, Including that of the tea table (Since we can’t call it a coffee table now. Can we).
IMHO, Tea should be consumed w/o milk to truly appreciate its delicate flavors. Being a tea drinker, one should also pay careful attention to its teeth staining qualities in the long run.
It would’ve been great if you had included a shot of the T-Pot in this post. :-)
October 7th, 2008 at 2:56 am (#)
I like tea without milk esp the hot lemon tea :) Have you tried the tea by Tulsi? Its awesome…
October 7th, 2008 at 7:59 am (#)
I developed a taste for green tea a couple of years back. These days I am trying out new flavors of tea that I could never find back home. My current favorite is Peach & Mango.
Other good ones include:
1. ginger & lemon grass
2. cranberry, raspberry & strawberry.
Lots of tea love. :)
October 7th, 2008 at 9:43 pm (#)
@ priyank: that’s the way! and thanks :-)
@ srinidhi: actually, that’s interesting. because i asked the same question. apparently, the shallow end of the harbour attracts a different kind of fish all together. and some of them are delicacies :-) in fact, on their good days, they do bring a lot of them in.
@ shilpa: you will love the place! there’s a gorgeous tree right in the middle of the courtyard!
@manasa: yes, have tried the tulsi tea. i keep one at office! it’s great!
@ sunshin3girl: looks like your tea cabinet is full :-) i love green tea too! right now i have one flavoured with lemongrass and rhodendron! and passing the same to you :-)
October 8th, 2008 at 10:35 am (#)
Good one.…
October 10th, 2008 at 10:57 pm (#)
wow.. i too liked the quote.. and the photograph too is great..which camera do u use?
October 12th, 2008 at 7:04 pm (#)
You have good appetite for travel and food. Good to notice your high energy levels. keep posting and i am enjoying your posts.
October 14th, 2008 at 3:21 pm (#)
Hi ,
I was reading ur blog posts and found some of them to be very good.. u write well.. Why don’t you popularize it more.. ur posts on ur blog ‘just a little something’ took my particular attention as some of them are interesting topics of mine too;
BTW I help out some ex-IIMA guys who with another batch mate run http://www.rambhai.com where you can post links to your most loved blog-posts. Rambhai was the chaiwala at IIMA and it is a site where users can themselves share links to blog posts etc and other can find and vote on them. The best make it to the homepage!
This way you can reach out to rambhai readers some of whom could become your ardent fans.. who knows.. :)
Cheers,
October 14th, 2008 at 3:49 pm (#)
for the past few years .. I am a devout tea guy .. the red tea actually … Some of the best tea I tried were AryaRuby from Arya Tea estate, First flush vintage, 2nd flush muscatel from Makaibari estate, Margaret’s Hope, Castleton are also very good tea .. btw makaibari has the distinction of winning the coveted award of best tea garden of the world .. Silver Tip Emperial from Makaibari has bagged the highest ever price in auction .. 400 dollars for 1 KG!!! btw its available for buyers from makaibari at Rs 18K per kg!!!! no that I have tried it …
Ranjit/Shillong
October 14th, 2008 at 4:45 pm (#)
me too quite particualr about my cuppa tea.
And I like your tea shot
October 15th, 2008 at 8:05 am (#)
@ Jarlin: thanks!
@ ravi: i use a nikon d70s
@ Vijay Ganesh: thanks! glad you enjoyed them!
@ ray: hey, thanks. will check it out!
@ Ranjit: a friend of mine from shillong bought me some lovely tea starting with ‘s’ — i can’t quite remember the name but it was awesome and nearly finished! i also picked up makaibari on a kalimpong trip — have yet to open it. i have so much tea and so little time! nice to find a fellow tea lover btw!
@ Paavani: thanks!
October 17th, 2008 at 2:14 pm (#)
Hi Anita, I think the shillong variety is ‘Sohrynkham’ its a place about 15 km from shillong towards jowai
October 18th, 2008 at 9:12 am (#)
@ ranjit: yes! that’s the one, thanks! :-)
October 20th, 2008 at 11:41 am (#)
Fort Cochin — the place I used to visit during my childhood many many years ago. To visit ammumma, muthachan, balakochachan; ammavan. Each of those edavazhis there has a significance. This place remains the Ghost Town it was then — thanx to the more commercialised development akkare — beyond Thopumpady. Those old cinema theatres — Galaxy, Sui, Star, Patel.…
Lots and lots of history, culture, fish food…that makes up my nativetown. Not ben there for over a decade now.
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:30 pm (#)
Hi Anita,
I enjoy reading ur blog & u were one of the first entrants in my reader :-). Moi’s a tea person too (though sometimes a kapi calls to me). I am curious about the book you mentioned in this post. Can you tell me where you found the book? I tried searching for it on Indian book sites but in vain.
November 2nd, 2008 at 8:09 pm (#)
I hope you did visit Mattancherry, my hometown.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:58 am (#)
@topes: glad it brought back memories for you!
@ neeta: thanks a lot! the book i found at the tea shop! i don’t think it’s available now.
@roshan: yes, i did!
March 29th, 2009 at 4:25 pm (#)
Thanks for the post! I love the black tea most..and I also like tea without milk esp the hot lemon tea
:)