There are those who love dogs and those who love cats. It’s common to meet fans of either, rarer to find people fond of both. With drinks, there’s a similar polarization; few people enjoy coffee and tea equally. I’ve written about coffee in this tea column. For me, the enjoyment is real, but still a disappointment after that tantalising aroma. As with cigar smoking, my mouth experience pales against my nose experience. As with cigars; something of coffee, something ashen, clings to the inside of my mouth long beyond its...

Now, this may seem a little vulgar. But I beg your patience. I’m here to talk up the pleasures of burping. As the father of a new baby, it’s a proud moment when I bash a burp out of her, especially a good dry one; there are no marks for puking the baby. But I’m here to talk here about the pleasure of the adult burp. You see, food that “repeats” is my kind of food; garlic or jiucai (韭菜) may only be a one-dimensional reminder of a good meal well had, but...

there were some TV commercials for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. Various respectable-looking adults found themselves restricted for choice at breakfast time, while camping or abroad, perhaps... Anyway, they were forced by circumstance to eat Corn Flakes. “I’d forgotten how good they taste”, they each said. And that was the tagline of the series. The implication was not that these adults had grown out of breakfast cereals; it was merely that they had spent years pursuing different kinds of breakfast cereal, neglecting the one that started it all. Rather than getting sick of...

Does tea itself contribute stress?The answer here is: surely, yes.If so, then what’s the remedy?Why, clearly, it’s a cup of tea. Hard-liquor drinkers sometimes make that face; the one that isn’t just pleasure. Children must see this wincing face when watching, say, Westerns, and wonder why grown men would voluntarily drink something so painful-tasting, again and again.  Perhaps children intuit the social aspect of the deal; the difficult drink must be imbibed because the situation demands it.  Perhaps children recognise the celluloid sour mash as a necessary medicine. Children surely know the...