FROM THE EDITOR
COVER: RAMON AVELINO/PATSWERK THIS PAGE: PANAGIS MATSANGOURAS , BBC STUDIOS X3, ALAMY
I don’t drink tea. That’s the confession I whisper whenever I’m offered one. When people find out I don’t partake of the hallowed brew, they tend to look at me as though I’ve admitted to decorating my walls with locally sourced cat droppings.
I realise I’m totally at odds with British convention here. Unfortunately, no amount of cajoling has changed my mind. Even when some people, for whom a cup of tea is like air, ask:
“Well, what do you do instead?”
The reason I don’t partake is my gran used to try to hide medicine in cups of tea. Nothing sinister, just an Indian grandmother hoping a chai might make a bitter remedy go down easy. Instead, it just made me wretch at the smell of freshly brewed tea leaves. So now, I get my caffeine via coffee instead. The thing is, when you think about it, it’s very rare to find someone who doesn’t consume caffeine in one form or another. Whether you get it from tea, coffee, soft drinks or energy drinks, drinking caffeine seems to be almost as ubiquitous a practice as putting salt on your food. It’s woven into the fabric of many cultures across the world.