Make Mine a Builder's Tea- it's manly!

Photo by Melissa Bishop

A package arrived for me at my home yesterday via 'Royal Mail'. Yes, I'm enough of an Anglophile that those words made me smile, but a bigger smile came when I realized what was inside the box. I had connected on Twitter with Jonathan Chiu from Make Mine a Builder's Tea. I thought, 'why not' and asked him for a sample of tea. Is this not a chipper box? So distinctive from what you normally see on the grocery store shelf. I love the 'cheek' of it. Read about the history of the term, 'builder's tea' HERE. The Make Mine a Builder's Tea website is unlike any other tea website I have visited. Usually, when visiting a tea website, you are shown fields of tea being plucked by happy workers, you get some sort of standard write up on tea and its history in some way, a history of the company, and a large selection of exotic flavors from which to chose.  When you go to the Make Mine a Builder's Tea website, you get tea, black tea and some d.i.y tips (hey, they're builders! really.) pictures and stories about other people who love Make Mine a Builders, a few website links to other tea companies in case you went to Make Mine a Builders by accident thinking they sell flowery teas, and much, much more. Moreover, this is a pretty good, basic black tea. If it weren't so manly, I would have to call it the 'little black dress' of tea; everyone should own it.  Make Mine a Builders declares their tea can brew in 20 seconds, and it does.

This tea reminds me of the scene from City Slickers where Curly is telling the guys what kind of food they can expect. 'The foods; brown, hot and there's plenty of it.'