I like drinking a hot black cup of tea.

When I traveled to England in 2003, I stayed at Mr. and Mrs. Meves' house. Tsukasa, traveling with me, had stayed at their house to study English many years before. The night before I came back home, they gave me a tea bag box saying, "You said that you liked tea very much." When I feel it is a little troublesome to make tea by using leaf tea because I have to wash the tea pot, I use the tea bag. Yes! The tea bag tea is quite good.

Akiko, my friend, and my e-mail friend in Osaka say, "Tea bags which you can get in supermakets are really nice!"
"For example, along the Victoria Road, you can find Sainsbury's Red Label in the Sainsbury supermaket and Premium Tea in Safeways. Along the King's Road, you can find niceteas in Waitrose."
Yeah. Maybe, it is true. When I entered and ordered a cake and tea, and thought it was tasty, I sometimes found out that the tea was made from a tea bag after removing off the teapot lid.
However, every day at home, I have a cup of tea made by leaf teas from Fortnum & Mason. I like the Royal Blend tea or Darjeeling. Royal Blend tea becomes deep in color soon after I put in the hot water. On the other hand, Darjeeling seems to take forever to become deep, even if I use boiling water. Thus, my understanding and my way of making tea is very simple, but true to its reputation, Fortnum & Mason's teas is really nice!
I don't remember when, but now one of my purposes for going to England is buying some teas.
If time is available, on the day I arrive in London, I usually go to Piccadilly Circus and walk down Piccadilly towards Green park to go to Fortnum & Mason. Then, I go to the basement without looking at anything and ask the clerk to sent 22 cans of tea to Japan by air. The reason why I buy 22 cans is that we can send up to 22 cans for the same overseas delivery charge.
My mother and I like Royal Blend or Darjeeling. I added a few Orange Pekoe or English Breakfast to my order. Moreover, if they have some special or memorial teas, I usually buy 2 or 3 cans. My mother and I buy them together, sometimes my aunt also enjoys buying.
You may think why our choice doesn't include Earl Grey. It is because we don't like it. Ha ha ha! Don't you think that it tastes something unique?
By the way, many people around me like Earl Grey. Therefore, I usually put one or two cans of Whittard's Earl Grey for them into my luggage. Many of my acquaintances, who include Taki(my friend), John P(my English teacher) agree that Whittard's Earl Grey is the best! If you like Earl Grey tea, I recommend Whittard's.
Anyway, here, t I'll show you some teas which I have bought. I think that you can recognize some of them.

		the first line : Fortnum & Mason's Clock series of tea. left : Royal Blend tea and Darjeeling ; right : Orange Pekoe. the second line : Fortnum & Mason's Decorative Caddy series of tea. left : Darjeeling and Royal Blend. right : The red one is English Breakfast tea. The orange one is Earl Grey. You may think, "Although Yoko said she doesn't like Earl Grey. Why does she have Earl Grey tea?", but I got this tea for free because it was delivered by mistake. I can smell the tea strongly even when I don't open the can. At first, I thought, "It is too stronag", but when I tried this tea, I thought it was quite nice. For many years, I had bought the Clock series of tea. However, some years ago, one of the clerks told me that these cans would be changed to Decorative Caddy tea which you can see at lower left. Since then, I have bought the Decorative Caddy Royal Blend and Darjeeling, but I still saw the old series at Fortnum & Mason. Maybe, I heard wrong? Anyway, I prefer the new ones because it is easy to open the lid.
		left : Special Blend for celebrate Elizabeth II's 50th year. Probably, they blend many types of tea, so it tastes profound. right : lower right : Fortnum & Mason's Millennium Blend, It was sold for celebrating the change from 2000 to 2001. John P., my English teacher, said,“It's tasty!, but my mother and I don't likeit, probably because it tastes a little like Earl Grey.
		Whittard's English Rose tea and English Breakfast tea. I heard that English Rose tea was made for the late Princess Diana. I hesitate to say, however, I and my friends agree that Whittard's English Breakfast tea looks pretty, but doesn't taste so good.

If you want to see a photo of Celebration Blend tea, which I bought in 2003, click here.

I have a poor man's mentality, so I can't throw away empty cans easily. Many of them look wonderful. Don't you think that they are good just to display? Moreover, the Decorative Caddy series' cans are excellent at sealing performance, so I use them to keep ground coffee beans or some sweets. John P. said that he used them to keep his wine's corks.

By the way, for the first time, I made a mistake when I bought some teas last year.
I usually say, “the Decorative Caddy series, please” when I order some teas to be sent. However, last year, my physical condition had been very bad and I hadn't felt well for 2 days since I arrived in London. I should have go to Fortnum & Mason after I recovered, but I didn't know when I would recover, or, if I could recover or not. Moreover, I really wanted to buy some teas. Therefore, I tried so hard to go there when I had only a little time.
I asked, “Will you show me a catalogue?” and ordered some teas, for example, Royal Blend, Darjeeling, and so on. I didn't forget to ask them to send the newer ones if possible. I thought that everything had been completed, so I was relieved.
However…
When the teas were delivered after I came back to Japan, my mother and I were surprised! I thought I had bought the Decorative Caddy series tea, but we received some ordinary green canned tea. Why?? At first, I thought that it was their fault. Then, I made haste to check the order sheet and I was appalled to find out that I ordered green canned tea. I meant to buy the Decorative Caddy series tea seeing the catalogue, but the clerk couldn't see my catalogue, so he thought that I ordered the ordinary green canned tea.
I think that the Decorative Caddy tea's leaves are bigger than the ordinary green canned tea. Therefore, I like the Decorative Caddy tea. Moreover, we can buy the green canned tea at a supermarket near my apartment at a bargain price without visiting England! In fact, I compared the price and shockingly, I found out that teas at the supermarket in Japan are about 100 yen cheaper than London!!
I felt terrible when I bought the teas, but I made such mistakes probably because I thought that I was already well-traveled. I deeply regret my carelessness. However, we should remember what state of mind I was in at first^*.

^*In 2003, again, I had a saga related with Fortnum & Mason's Tea. If you want to know the details, click here.


In closing, I want to advise you. It may be useful when you send some teas by air. At first, you should write "unaccompanied luggage" on the package of tea. Then, the sender should be yourself. Moreover, be sure that you declare that you bought some teas and sent them by air to the customs when you come back to Japan. You should make two copies of the same document that you need when you buy above the tax exception limit. Customs officials will give you back one of them, so you should keep it until the teas are delivered.A few weeks later, you'll receive a document from the customs. It will annouce that your unaccompanied luggage has been sent. After you write down the necessary terms, you should send back it the customs. Then, you can receive your luggage in a week without paying tax. Actually, I didn't know I should write "unaccompanied luggage" on the package and the sender should be myself although I submitted the document to the customs. Therefore, I've never received the document from the customs which annouces my luggage has arrived.
A few times, I had been asked to pay the tax and had to contact the customs and send the document which I had received at Narita Airport to get my tea without the tax. Usually, there is no problem when the goods which being sent are teas, so it was only a few years ago that I had been asked for the tax for the first time. At that time, I telephoned to the customs and asked what I should have done. They said that the sender must not be myself. Unfortunately, if I am asked for the tax, I explain the situation and ask the postman to carry back the parcel to the post office. After that, I should contact the customs and show them the document at Narita to explain that I have the right to buy them without tax. They said that according to this process, I would finally receive my tea.
Since then, I did this procedure when I received my unaccompanied tea and was asked for the tax. However, it is a little complicated. Moreover, it will take more time because it needs an extra procecdure. Next time, I'm sure that I'll write "unaccompanied luggage" on the package and send the teas to myself.
If you pay tax initially, the procedure to get the money back will become complicated, so be careful! You may think that the tax is only a few thousands yen, but I don't want you to have to pay for something which is unnecessary.

In 2004, I bought Christmas tea at Fortnum & Mason. It was a special tea for Christmas.
Probably, I saw the tea for the first time. After coming back to Japan, I gave one of teas to my English teacher, John P.
The next morning, I received e-mail from him.
He wrote, "I tried the Christmas tea this morning, and it is so delicious. It has a unique Christmas taste and aroma.
I think it is the best tea I have had ; amazingly it gives us a real taste of Christmas aroma of mince pies and Christmas pudding!"
Actually, at that time, I hadn't tried the tea, but soon after that, I had it with my parents.
My father said, "This tea is special. I like it." It was very rare for him to say so, because he doesn't like English tea so much.
Moreover, my mother said, "Yes, it is very tasty." All of us liked the Christmas tea.
According to the can, Christmas tea is "a blend of tea enhanced with cloves, cinnamon and orange peel."
I strongly recommend you to try it. If you see "Love Actually", it'll give you the complete Christmas atmosphere.

（2003.4.29, 2004.6.5, 2005.1.15）

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