So there are many perks of blogging I’ve come to realise over the past 18 month (yes I’ve been doing this thing for 18 months!).
Blogging is a great excuse to visit new places.
I can drink tea and eat cake for the purposes of research. (More tea drinking posts coming soon!)
I learn things from other bloggers.
I ‘meet’ new friends.
My fans send me gifts.
Yes you heard that last one correctly. Ok so maybe fan is a strong word. Comrade might be better, one of my blogging comrades.
I’ve known Plot (Sonia) for a few months now, we ‘met’ via a bloggers group and I instantly knew she was one I should stalk (follow). Sonia has even taken part in my Twenty Questions series, so I feel we know each other quite well now!
One quiet Wednesday morning in early February Sonia messaged me with a proposition. If I sent her my address she would send me some traditional Belfast tea (she’s from Northern Ireland you see).
Yes, I will do almost anything for a tea but when asked to send some weirdo you only know through the internet your address you think ‘is this wise?’ But it’s ok, this weirdo is a good one. I mean it in an endearing way! And there was the chance of receiving tea.
It came!
This traditional Belfast tea (Thompson’s Punjana, still produced in the same factory today) wasn’t just any Belfast tea. This was the tea that made the Titanic!
Ok so I know tea doesn’t build ships, but people do, and tea builds people, kind of. It builds me anyway. They say 65% of your body is water, well mine is probably tea. Joking aside tea is an important part of everyday life for many. You can’t function in the mornings until you’ve had your first brew, the greatest ideas can come while chilling with a cuppa, we gossip and put the world to rights on tea breaks. A warm cup of tea can be calming, soothing or energising.
Thompson’s Punjana is the brand consumed by the builders of the Titanic, so, this tea built the Titanic.
As is probably clear from the title of this post I don’t know a lot about the Titanic. My knowledge and opinion is based entirely on the Jack/Leo Rose/Kate version with a Celein Dion backing track. How much of this is based on life I couldn’t tell you. What I do know is, there was an iceberg involved, a lot of pushing and shoving, a string quartet, and Titanic sunk.
My thoughts were also probably romanticised due to me being 12 years old and a little bit in love with Leonado Dicaprio after the cinema trip. I could not forgive Kate/Rose for pushing him off that door and into the freezing sea! But there we go, girl power, needs must, and all that.
This was also around the time I was studying Romeo and Juliet at school. So Leo will forever be a romantic tragedy to me!
That’s the end of my Titanic knowledge I’m afraid, but I do have some photographs of the statue and garden of remembrance to show you. Thanks to Sonia for taking them!
If you look closely this very sensitive statue shows people going under the waves!
I am quite the expert/fanatic on tea though.
Thompson’s Punjana tea was also served on the Titanic. So I sit here imagining I am Rose/Kate gazing at Jack/Leo as I prepare for my first Punjana brew!
The strong fragrance hit as soon as the packet was open. The stuff lovely Sonia sent me was in bags, so easy to brew in a mug.
The tea instantly darkens as brewing. I leave for a couple of minutes before removing the bag and adding a dash of milk. It’s a rich brown colour. Has depth.
An aroma rises. A real tea smell. It smells strong. Like this tea means business.
You know how they say you could stand a spoon in it? Well you probably could. I’d describe it as robust.
A ‘Builders Tea’ this could be referred to (without the sugar for me). Well it certainly helped them build the Titanic. It was a design failure after all. Sorry, bit close to the edge? Iceberg? Sorry again.
It’s bold, if a little bitter. I don’t take sugar in my tea but this could need sweetening for some.
I don’t know how to describe it but it has a thickness to it. It’s not thin and wish-washy. Gives the illusion of having a thickness to it, as in flavour rather than texture.
It leaves a smooth aftertaste.
As with many fragrances and tastes tea drinking can evoke memories.
It’s funny how tea can have different tastes in different places. Be it the tea used, the water in the area or the maker. Tea at my Nans always had a distinct flavour. Whether good or bad this can ignite memories or bring comfort.
This brand of tea was one used by Sonia’s Granny.
‘Growing up, I have strong memories of my Grandmother, a very feisty wee woman, who spoke in a strong Lallians (Lowland Scots) dialect. She was very fond of her tea, but it had to be just right, made from tea leaves, preferably from the Punjana Tea Company,. This was definitely the most popular brand of tea back in the day, probably because it was blended to compliment the water here in Northern Ireland.
Granny was fussy, and always turned her nose up at tea bags, in favour of her preferred, loose leaf, ‘proper’ tea. This needed some accompanying kit, firstly a tea caddy, to keep it fresh and a tea strainer to remove the leaves from you cup. Granny’s caddy was made out of oak, and even thirty years after her passing, if you open it, you can still smell the long gone contents. That smell, the blend of wood and tea takes me right back to my childhood, and doing homework in her front room after school.
Granny would pour me a cup of tea using the strainer that I always thought was a doll’s flour sieve. If I had been reasonably good she would read my leaves afterwards too. Looking back at it now, its surprising how often my future seemed to involve ‘eating all my dinner’ or ‘finishing my homework’, Granny was nothing if not pragmatic.’
Granny sounds like my kind of lady!
Thanks again Sonia for the gift of tea. It’s pretty tasty, I can see why your Granny demanded this brand! I’m halfway through the pack already. My Mum rather likes it. I have to keep reminding her this is for my research. I’m the blogger. They’re my perks.
I welcome tea gifts at any time, from anyone!
Sounds like a nice cup of tea!
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Very tasty 😋
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Interesting 👍
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That is so sweet of Sonia!! Do you know what kinds of tea are in the blend?
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It’s a blend of tea from Kenya and Assam from India 😊
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It is great when you connect with people. Also what a treat to receive tea! I know a bit about the Titanic as a bunch of people are buried here.
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Connecting with other bloggers is one of the best parts!
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Awww this is so nice! How lovely of Sonia x. I am so with you on the Rose front, she could well have shuffled along a bit and let Leo on. What a cow haha! I too love my tea, and this looks like a proper cuppa. Yum!
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I agree – a total cow (Rose, not Sonia obviously!) – they could have easily shared or taken turns X
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Haha!
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I’d recommend giving it a try if you like a strong tea. There was plenty of room on that door for the two of them!
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I must admit I never knew this was the brand favoured by the builders of the Titanic! I think most of my body is made of tea, too – pretty sure my blood test results regularly come back inconclusive because of high levels of PG Tips throwing the test off. That is such an awesome thing of her to send tea, what a lovely gesture! 🙂
Caz xx
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Haha that’s probably what’s wrong with many of my results too, but the tea keeps me going! So swings and roundabouts 😃
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That’s a lovely idea and I like the sound of Sonia’s Granny too! I hadn’t heard of this Tea Company before.
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Me either, and I’m obsessed with tea!
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That looks like a lovely cup of tea. What a lovely gesture from Sonia, too 🙂
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She’s just too kind 😃
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That is my tea of choice too!!!!!
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I feel ashamed I’d never tasted it before. And I call myself a tea fanatic!
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Lol!! Punjabi is now called Thompson’s too… I got a little card in my last pack!
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I want someone to like me enough to send me anything … That said, you are very lucky it could have been a stalking maniac pretending, passing themselves off as a friendly kind Irish person called Sonjia. You could have opened your door to a feind dressed as a postman/woman and been throat slashed or licked into submission by a sex crazed licking person.
I expect you get my drift by now, you were lucky to have missed out. The last one could have been interesting and probably wasn’t the tea sort so you would have eventually got a soothing cuppa because anybody who is anybody knows … Tea mends all ills and puts the world to rites. Well PG Tips does *sniffs*
As for the film its a pitty you weren’t sent a heart shaped jewel, oh maybe not because the export tax would have floored you. My head is haing great difficulties steadying so many scenarios all from your post! I think I will put my feet up and recouperate with a cup of tea. 😉😘
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Haha loved your scenarios. I must say a few went through my head too! And Sonia forever has my address…. I wouldn’t put anything past her!
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Brilliant! That made me laugh out loud, lucky I’m on my own! I’m glad you like it, should have warned you it’ll put hairs on your chest! 😂 xxx
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There’s still a few left, I’m enjoying it thanks. Glad to have made you chuckle!
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There was definitely room for two on that door! How lovely for you to be sent tea 🙂 I had a similar brief worry myself when a very kind blogger friend wanted my address to send me a piece of artwork. As convinced as I was thst she was genuinely a decent person I still wavered for a moment, just in case! Of course it all turned out fine 😉
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I’m glad it all turned out well for you too! It does make you a little apprehensive, but luckily there are lots of lovely people out there 😊
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Thanks! Yes it does, but yes there are 🙂
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More than enough room on that door!
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