Tea Porn

Is Billy tea a brand or a specific style of tea? I haven't heard that term before.

It is both.

It refers to any tea, usually strong and black, brewed by boiling water in a tin colloquially called a 'billy' over an open fire then throwing a handful of tea leaves loose into the rolling water.

Its almost an Australian tea ceremony when camping. Traditionally after pitching the tea (throwing in the leaves) the billy is removed from the fire and stirred and someone then 'swings the billy'. This means they hold it by the handle and swing it around the shoulder in a full circle to push all the leaves to the bottom. It is also the source of much hilarity and third degree burns when the handle of the billy breaks off.

Here's a link to some old cock-waffle going about the show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrJa23WyAr4


You then drink it from enamel mugs that someone didn't wash up properly the night before.

It's also a brand of tea that is sold here. There have been several tea companies package and brand a "billy tea".

https://thebillytea.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/dsc_0121.jpg
http://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0008/232199/03_Billy-tea_h350.jpg
 
I just bought my first box of Red Rose last week. A friend had served it and I thought it was nice.

The box had what I thought was a piece of chewed-up pink bubble gum in it. Turned out to be a ceramic conch!

http://guideimg.alibaba.com/images/shop/2015/09/13/49/wade-red-rose-nautical-wonderland-series-conch-shell_9484549.jpeg

I have to admit it's not the most impressive looking prize. I keep hoping for the mermaid, but get starfish after starfish....at least they're cute...
 

One of my favourite memories from childhood is cups of tea with my uncle Jack, a Korean war veteran. He came home and lost his legs to diabetes. (Alcoholism as a mask for ptsd.)

We'd sit on the back steps and he'd brew tea on a little army stove. He had a collection of ration packs he'd returned with. Mostly Australian infantry issue but also American troops he'd traded with. We drank our tea from brass cups he'd made from artilery shells and he'd tell stories of his mates.

I was only 6 or 7 years old at the time and he died around then. Thanks for bringing him back for a moment.
 
Last edited:
I have never had very very fresh rainbow trout tea but I am sure it is very good.

Except for the bones.
 
No bones in my fillets. Out of the water, by the time it is filleted water is boiled for rice, set aside and fish in small fry pan. 15 minutes max. Reboil water for hot chocolate, coffee or tea while eating. A meal in paradise even at -15C.
 
“Honestly, if you're given the choice between Armageddon or tea, you don't say 'what kind of tea?”
― Neil Gaiman
 
Maybe you can use the ice cubes to douse the flames of righteous indignation.

I would try to use being an American as an excuse, but my grandmother was from England. She taught me better than to drink my tea with ice. I deserve your wrath.
 
“TEA

I like pouring your tea, lifting
the heavy pot, and tipping it up,
so the fragrant liquid streams in your china cup.

Or when you’re away, or at work,
I like to think of your cupped hands as you sip,
as you sip, of the faint half-smile of your lips.

I like the questions – sugar? – milk? –
and the answers I don’t know by heart, yet,
for I see your soul in your eyes, and I forget.

Jasmine, Gunpowder, Assam, Earl Grey, Ceylon,
I love tea’s names. Which tea would you like? I say
but it’s any tea for you, please, any time of day,

as the women harvest the slopes
for the sweetest leaves, on Mount Wu-Yi,
and I am your lover, smitten, straining your tea.”
― Carol Ann Duffy, Rapture
 
Back
Top