Top Five Teas in Giles' Tea Tin

[kivrin]

(You too can request a Top Five List in the meme post here!)

For penwiper26, Giles' Top Five Varieties of Tea, and Their Primary Uses


5. Old English Fruits (Whittards of Chelsea, loose.) For those times when he wants a sweet but really shouldn't indulge, or for those absurdly long cloudless Californian afternoons when he misses English seasons and feels nostalgic for interminable duty visits paid to his Great-Aunt Harriet, who made vile shortbread but very good fruity tea. Also useful for training the palates of Americans who think something's not a beverage unless it's half sweetener. Jenny liked it. So does Buffy.

4. Formosa Oolong (loose.) For nights of solitary research or reflection, and memories that are not as bitter as he thinks they ought to be.

3. Darjeeling (both loose and in bags.) For lazy mornings when he can go back to bed with a novel, or potter around the kitchen making himself (or a guest) a full English breakfast, or for after dinner, or occasionally when he very much does not wish to be tense but doesn't quite dare get out the Scotch.

2. Earl Grey (Bigelow and Twinings, bags.) Because everyone seems to expect it, and Willow always asks for it.

1. Barry's Red Label (bags.) An Irish brand that inexplicably but mercifully appears from time to time in the tea aisle of the Sunnydale Shop 'n Bag. Good, strong, black tea, the sort that one can get in the feeblest greasy spoon anywhere in the British Isles, but not at any price in an American restaurant. For late nights, early mornings, long research sessions, quick cuppas at the kitchen counter, and any other general occasion.

Comments

[breadandroses.livejournal.com]

I like this :)

does Willow ask for Earl Gray because she likes it or because she thinks it's a British, and therefore sophisticated, thing to drink?

[kivrin.livejournal.com]

:)

A little of both for Willow, I think. She probably likes it more than other kinds of tea, since the flavor is more delicate, but she also probably does have those It Is Grown-Up And Sophisticated associations with it. *pets highschool!Willow*

[penwiper26.livejournal.com]

I love this. Nums.

*wants to try Barry's Red Label*

[kivrin.livejournal.com]

Barry's Red Label is the choice of my mom's Irish nun colleagues. Every time one of them goes back there she has to bring home a stash for the convent. It's very cute.

Thanks for the prompt!

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

I know nothing about tea and hate to drink it (I know, I *fail* at being British) but this was such a delightful and insightful little fic. I especially liked No. 4. I loves me some solitary, researching Giles :-)

[kivrin.livejournal.com]

So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you.

(I know, I *fail* at being British)
We should work out some kind of exchange. I fail at being American because I am a coffee atheist. :)

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

Hee. Icon love.

[glimmergirl.livejournal.com]

Tea! Tea love! :D

Er. I think Giles would laugh at my tea drawer... I suspect he is more of a tea!snob than I am. ;)

[kivrin.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure whether his time in America makes him more or less of a tea snob. More because those around him are so ignorant, or less because his options are so sadly reduced.

[glimmergirl.livejournal.com]

:)

I saw Giles' Barry's Red Label tea in my grocery store when I went yesterday afternoon. Which, mew!, I really COULD have my own Giles and be able to provide for him. (Especially if he comes with useful furniture...)

Ah! My browser's random icon thinger has chosen my most inappropriate icon ever for Giles/Tea post!

[rainne]

Hey, thanks for the insights! Being from the American South, all I know from tea is Lipton's, in a bag, boiled to within an inch of its life, with two cups of sugar in the pitcher and a tall glass full of ice.

Mmm.

Yeah. So, for British-type tea drinkers, I'm all like, "Oh, Giles has, um, tea. In a cup. From, you know, a pot. And it's all hot and stuff." LOL

[kivrin.livejournal.com]

:) I have a sweet tooth the size of Manhattan, but for some reason sweet tea is Too Much for me. Though I dutifully drank several glasses alongside my barbecue when I visited a friend in Georgia.

Thanks for reading! Glad you enjoyed it.

[appomattoxco.livejournal.com]

I liked this. It's always fun to peek into fictional people's kitchen cabinets. I blame my own affection for Earl Grey on a certain captain. ;)

One of my nieces is a cancer survivor. She got hooked on hot tea when she was sick. So much so that SiL has to carry tea bags in her purse and ask for hot water when they go out to eat.

[kivrin.livejournal.com]

I blame my own affection for Earl Grey on a certain captain. ;)
:) I have no idea what you're talking about. As a highschooler I certainly NEVER ordered "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot." in the proto-Starbucks in my hometown. Never.

nor was I party to planning a parody episode in which Picard's tea became sentient, stole Worf's bat'leh, and tried to take over the ship. that's a myth. myth.

The problen I find (as a coffee atheist) is not so much that places don't have teabags as that places don't make the water hot enough.

[breadandroses.livejournal.com]

nor was I party to planning a parody episode in which Picard's tea became sentient, stole Worf's bat'leh, and tried to take over the ship. that's a myth. myth.

LMAO. I want to read this so much.

[kivrin.livejournal.com]

*G* Sadly, I don't think any of it was actually written down. The only further details I can offer are that we planned a musical sequence in which the Earl Grey Of Death tea-blob (having reproduced by budding into many blobs) marched on the bridge singing something along the lines of "Kill The Beast" from Beauty and the Beast.

[boy-named-susie.livejournal.com]

This is really fun and well written. And now you've made me want to go drink some tea.

[kivrin.livejournal.com]

Thanks! *pours tea for you*

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's fabulous! I love memories that are not as bitter as he thinks they ought to be.
I bet he also has Lapsang Soochong - I always think it's like good Islay whisky only better because it's tea. :)
So true that everyone would expect Earl Grey! I wonder if Willow's now a convert to the new(ish) Lady Grey...
You've made my plans for the afternoon. I'm going to Whittards. ;)

[kivrin.livejournal.com]

Whittard's!!! *lusts* I have never been but a friend brought me back some teas when she went to the UK - Four English Fruits, Blackcurrant, Lemon, and Orange Blossom. I want to try the Apple Crumble someday because the blurb says it was inspired by Giles' mother. I know it's not our Giles, but still.

I bet Giles would like LS for just that reason. Being fond of the whisky.

Willow probably got rather heavily into herbal tea in college, and after her rehab in England might have become a convert to Properly Brewed Tea over and above any particular type. I may have to give this more thought. :)

Thanks for reading!

[draconin.livejournal.com]

Hah! Coffee forever!! ;-P

[kivrin.livejournal.com]

Tea, dammit! (except when you wish to be tense.) ;)

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

What a marvelous way to look at Giles. I really enjoyed this.

[kivrin.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[stretfordditto.livejournal.com]

Excellent fic. Loved #3. :D My fave tea is Earl Grey with a slice of lemon, preferably while sitting in the restaurant at Holker Hall in the Lake District. They make a good cuppa...

[kivrin.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed. My current favorite is Monk's Blend - Ceylon black tea with vanilla and grenadine flavors. But my favorite changes frequently. :)