TF Tea Cup Championships 2021
Sainsbury’s Fine Ceylon vs T2 English Breakfast
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After a brief hiatus at the weekend (when I reviewed some Chinese green tea and an Earl Grey lavender blend), the Tea Fancier Tea Cup Championship is back on. I’m sure you’re all following the competition assiduously. However, here’s a brief recap for those of you who have busy lives: The Tea Fancier Tea Cup Championship is a knockout tournament, in which sixteen teams compete against a randomly selected opponent in order to determine the best English Breakfast-style proper cuppa.
Today on the pitch is Sainsbury’s Ceylon Fine Tea and T2 English Breakfast. It’s a rather fortuitous pairing because both teas are made with 100% Sri Lankan tea. (The tea deities are really smiling on me with these random tea selections. There are only four teas left in the tin now and these include both Dorset and Yorkshire teas. This means there’s a 50/50 chance that we’re going to see a North of England versus South of England play-off in the next couple of days.)
You may be wondering why Sainsbury’s Ceylon was included in this tournament, when their English Breakfast blend might have been the more logical choice. Sainsbury’s Ceylon Fine Tea is my parents’ go-to tea blend. This means that it was easy to source. I only needed to nick some tea bags out of my mum and dad’s tea cupboard, rather than purchasing a whole box of forty new tea bags.
But it’s more than that, as the tea of choice at Tea Fancier Senior’s, it seems right that this tea should get to play in these championships. Any time over the last few decades, if either of my parents have said, “Would you like a cup of tea?” to me (a question to which they already know the answer), this is the tea that I will have been handed.
It took several attempts to determine the results of this match. This is because on the first two attempts, I accidentally let my cup of T2 English Breakfast tea get cold. I persevered and on the third try, I managed to finish it during the acceptable tea-drinking-temperature window.
The fact that I kept forgetting about T2 English Breakfast is not insignificant. I never forget to drink tea. Once I’ve got a cup of tea waiting for me, that’s my top priority in life. I’ve even – and this will shock you – been known to move the cat off my lap, so I can retrieve my cup of tea. I have explained to the cat, that it’s not that I love tea more than I love her, it’s just that the tea is more time-sensitive.
So for me to forget about a cup of tea – not once but twice – suggests a tea blend that is exceptionally forgettable. ‘Forgettable’ is a fair description of T2 English Breakfast. There’s nothing actually wrong with this tea, but there’s nothing to particularly recommend it either. It is warm, wet, brown and doesn’t taste actively unpleasant. These are clearly not sufficient attributes to secure a place in the Tea Fancier Tea Cup Championships quarter final.
I don’t want you to think that Sainsbury’s Fine Ceylon has simply won by default, though. This is a lovely golden cup of single origin Sri Lankan tea-ness that will recharge and restore you. It has served the Tie Fancier family well for many years, and I’m pleased to see it going through to the next leg of the competition.
Congratulations Sainsbury’s, you’re through.
