Earl Grey Tea...any significance???

[Gramm838]

I suspect the main reason Earl Grey tea is drunk, is that its the most pretentious tea to order, since it has to be done just right (only a drop or two milk, dontcha know, old chap).

Although I have to say it is the nicest tea I've ever had, lol

 

[markpud]

This may be my favourite tea/star trek forum post ever!

 

[BelgarionOz]

As a confirmed tea drinker; I would rather drink coffee than Earl Grey

I think there is something wrong with your taste buds, my friend. Earl Grey tea is the shizzle. It's the only tea I drink. I also don't drink coffee.

As said before. It's not posh at all. Pretty much every cafe and restaurant that serves tea in this country has Earl Grey. You can buy it in any supermarket, and it's no more or less expensive than any other tea. Of course if you go to the tea shop, and get some whizz bang your beaut, made especially from three particular tea bushes and one particular lavender and bergamot tree, then yes you might pay through the nose.

I find the aroma very relaxing and refreshing.

 

[Vertigo]

I don't know where you are from BelgarionOz (Australia maybe? A shame location isn't shown by default any longer) so I don't know how available it might be but, if you can get it and if you find Earl Grey refreshing, look out for 'Lady Grey.' It's very similar but with a more citrus taste to it.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

If you're thinking Port Out, Starboard Home, that one is a myth, isn't it?

I wouldn't say Earl Grey isn't posh -- it's certainly on tea menus in very good tea rooms, though I agree there are others which are far more esoteric. As to the (very old) opening post, I imagine that in part it's the "feel" of the name. The words "Earl Grey" in Patrick Stewart's patrician tones makes everything seem very much more English and, as a result, high class and cultured p) in a way that might not have been the case if he'd asked for Darjeeling. (And yes, I know he's meant to be French, which is where it all falls down. )

TJ: I also think, like GK you're wrong, but not for the same reason.

Judge, no it is not a myth. And your answer is correct. It was an easy mnemonic for passengers (upper class passengers, of course) to remember which side of the ship to book a cabin. In this way their cabin's always faced south which were the warmer rooms. On the cold North Atlantic in the days before central heating, it made for a much more pleasant voyage!

I believe you are right about the origins, but not the reason. Firstly POSH applies to all levels of the ship. Upper class were usually in the upper decks but second and third didn't get the option of the non-posh side. The upper decks were all upper class. You could still be POSH in second class.

And facing south isn't right either. Going round the cape would put the sun to the north. (which would make sense in your argument, but still not the reason as I understand it.

I believe the reason for POSH was that on the outward journey port faces the land, as does starboard on the return.

That had something to focus on and at times was relatively close and 'interesting'. The poor sods on the non-posh side just had heaving waves and a blank horizon. Plus the ignominy of having to face their peers every day knowing they were the non-posh plebs.

 

[hopewrites]

Picard actually got me into tea.
It was forbidden as a child (dont ask, so were alot of other weird things) but the way that cup of Earl Grey got my beloved captain through rough seas (POSH or not) really stuck in my head. So when I left behind the restrictions of my youth, tea was the first "drug" I tried. (loling at the idea of tea as a gateway drug).
I'm more a fruit and flowers kind of tea girl; unless the rain is thick and the fire is hot and a book is waiting, then I go more chi-ish. But the fact remains that the early image of Earl Grey Hot- and the satisfied calm that followed that first sip- has stuck with me.


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