Downing Street indicates Netanyahu faces arrest if he enters UK    London's Gatwick airport reopens terminal after bomb scare evacuation    Civil Defense warns of thunderstorms across Saudi Arabia until Tuesday    Saudi Arabia, Japan strengthen cultural collaboration with new MoU    Slovak president meets Saudi delegation to bolster trade and investment ties    Saudi defense minister meets with Swedish state secretary    Navigating healthcare's future: Solutions for a sustainable system    Sixth foreign tourist dies of suspected methanol poisoning in Laos    Al Khaleej qualifies for Asian Men's Club League Handball Championship final    Katy Perry v Katie Perry: Singer wins right to use name in Australia    Trump picks Pam Bondi as attorney general after Matt Gaetz withdraws    Al-Jasser: Saudi Arabia to expand rail network to over 8,000 km    OMODA&JAECOO: Unstoppable global cumulative sales over 360,000 units    Al Hilal doesn't need extra support to bring new players, CEO says    Saudi Arabia sees 73.7% rise in investment licenses in Q3 2024    Rafael Nadal: Farewell to the 'King of Clay'    Indonesia shocks Saudi Arabia with 2-0 victory in AFC Asian Qualifiers    Sitting too much linked to heart disease –– even if you work out    GASTAT report: 45.1% of Saudis are overweight    Denmark's Victoria Kjær Theilvig wins Miss Universe 2024    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Top 10 places to enjoy a cup of tea
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 23 - 12 - 2009

Fancy a cuppa? From highbrow salons to highland plantations, Lonely Planet lists the world's best places to have a cup of tea in its “1000 Ultimate Experiences” guide. This list is not endorsed by Reuters.
1. London, England
Ladies, don your gowns; gents, start pressing your ties. Afternoon tea at the Ritz is a splendid formal affair: silver pots and fine china chink at 4pm sharp under the vaulted glass and chandeliers of the Palm Court. It's not cheap, but you'll be in good company - this venerable hotel has served exotic infusions to everyone from King Edward VII to Charlie Chaplin. If the budget won't stretch, try alternative institutions: the organization Classic Cafes champions the formica-countered greasy spoons of the 1950s, a dwindling number of which are still serving brews in vintage surrounds. Tie not required.
2. Trans-Siberian Railway, Russia/Central Asia
Nonstop, the epic Moscow-Beijing train journey takes over six days. The best way to spend them is befriending your carriage mates - Russian businesspeople, Mongolian traders, Buddhist monks. Each car has a samovar, a hot-water urn where you can top up your mug to ward off the Siberian chill. Samovars are more than kettles: entrenched in Russian society, they're made for communal drinking. The local saying ‘to have a sit by the samovar' means to talk leisurely over endless cups of tea. Fill your flask - and those of your new-found friends - and watch Europe roll into Asia.
3. Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina
Mate is the national beverage - and a national obsession - across sacross swathes of South America, drunk by all, from city-dwellers to pampas-drifting cowboys. and made from the dried leaves of the yerba mate plant. To join in you need to get the right gear: a silver bombilla (infusion straw) and accompanying guampa (gourd). Tuck these into your saddlebag and set off on a jaunt with the gauchos: this ‘liquid vegetable' will keep you riding and cattle-driving through the night.
4. Yueyang, China
Ever since a tea leaf allegedly floated into Emperor Shennong's cup of hot water around 2700 BC, the Chinese have extolled the beverage's virtues, medicinal and social. For a brew above others, head to Junshan Island, an atoll of bamboo and woodland set on Dongting Lake, a 45-minute sail from Yueyang. Home to a unique golden tortoise, the island also nurtures a clutch of bushes that produce the exclusive silver-needle tea, one of China's rarest, beloved of rulers past and alleged to contain life-extending powers.
5. Sahara Desert
There's no such thing as a quick cuppa in the North African desert. For local nomads, tea drinking requires patience and dedication. Each sitting involves not one but three rounds, each with a distinctive flavor. ‘The first is strong like love, the second bitter like life, the third one sweet as death', the adage goes. This isn't about thirst-quenching - it's about forging friendships in carpet-lined tents over dainty glasses. Laze under the date palms of Mauritania's Terjit Oasis or head out into the sand sea from Ghat, Libya, to find traditional brewers - and leave yourself plenty of time.
6. Uji, Japan
Temple-strewn Uji is the tea capital of Japan. Green tea - which grows here abundantly - finds its way into everything, from the traditional wooden boxes lining the shop shelves to soba noodles and ice-cream cones. To understand the importance of the drink, however, you must attend a traditional chanoyu (tea ceremony). In the tiny, tatami-matted rooms of the Taiho-an Tea House, kimono-clad women will serve you with studied formality. The ritual - involving beautiful utensils, delicate pouring and effusive appreciation on your part - is the only thing more important than the drink itself.
7. Inca Trail, Peru
You're at 4000-plus meters, hemmed in by high peaks and gasping for breath but determined to make it to the Inca marvel of Machu Picchu. What you need is coca tea. Beloved by Andeans the length of the range, this bitter brew wins no flavor contests but its raw ingredients, coca leaves (also the basis of cocaine), increase oxygen absorption into the blood. It's nature's answer to altitude sickness. And what better place to try it than huddled on a mountainside, in a valley flecked with Inca ruins, under an unobscured galaxy of stars.
8. Boston, USA
In 1773, a band of angry Bostonians stormed three docked British ships, throwing the boats' precious cargo - about 24 million cups' worth of tea - overboard. The plaque commemorating the fracas now sits between Congress and Purchase Streets, but better to visit the grand Old South Meeting House, where the protestors were whipped to a frenzy by Samuel Adams all those years ago. Or, for a more modern cuppa, head to Ming's Market. This Chinese emporium offers hundreds of teas, purporting to cure everything from simple pimples to troubles of a more intimate nature.
9. Darjeeling, India
It'll start on the train there - the call of the chai wallahs pacing the platforms, hawking their masala-spiced nectar. But that's nothing compared to Darjeeling itself. Once you switch to the narrow-gauge steam train that hauls up to this 2000m-odd hill station you're surrounded by the stuff: tea in the cafes, tea in the bazaars and a deep-green leafy profusion of tea cascading down the hillsides, with the might of the Himalaya behind. Between April and November (picking and processing season) take a plantation tour and marvel at what goes into a humble tea bag.
10. Hill Country, Sri Lanka
Hover above south-central Sri Lanka and all you'll see is green. The cool highlands have been blanketed by tea plantations since the late 19th century - with just splashes of rainbow-sari-clad pickers disrupting the color scheme. Nuwara Eliya is a good place for a quality brew and, with its 18-hole golf course and country club, can seem more British than, well, a cup of tea. To get in among the action take to the trails in the Bogawantalawa Valley, where you can walk or cycle between old planters' villas and pluck a few leaves for yourself.


Clic here to read the story from its source.