Have you got a favourite mug?

I hate tea!

I hated tea for the whole of my childhood. When I refused it my grandmother kept putting more and more sugar in it. I am shuddering remembering the taste now. I only managed to start drinking tea in my mid 20s when I realised I was expected to do this when visiting clients at work. Even now if someone accidentally put sugar in my tea I couldn't drink it. Do you ever try tea to see if your tastes have changed? 

I only really liked tea when I lived in Iran. It's a nation of tea connoisseurs who think that the British generally do not understand tea or have a particularly good taste in tea. In Iran tea is always made from leaves and blended according to tastes and the water hardness. There are many shops which sell loose tea leaves and will blend them for you. Tea in Iran is rarely as strong as the British cuppa enjoyed by builders because the normal British blends are heavily based on Assam tea.

I only really liked tea when I lived in Iran. It's a nation of tea connoisseurs who think that the British generally do not understand tea or have a particularly good taste in tea. In Iran tea is always made from leaves and blended according to tastes and the water hardness. There are many shops which sell loose tea leaves and will blend them for you. Tea in Iran is rarely as strong as the British cuppa enjoyed by builders because the normal British blends are heavily based on Assam tea.

Tea is usually served in small glass cups in Iran. Teahouses are everywhere although they seem to be a bit more like pubs, complete with their etiquette and clientele, than British tea and coffee shops.

The traditional British cuppa is declining amongst the younger generation who increasingly prefer fancy varieties of  tea but it's unlikely that tea leaves will ever make a big comeback in Britain.

It sounds like the tea in my favourite Iranian restaurant The Persian Cottage in Middlesbrough. It is delicate and fragrant, and it is served in a lovely teapot, kept warm over a candle.