Cream Rises To The Top

So, What's Your Cup Of Tea?

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

The ritual of the teapot always reminds me of my childhood. Back then, tea leaves were spooned into a real teapot with a grand spout and then the boiling water was poured in before the lid was replaced. The tea was allowed to "sit" for a few minutes before the first cup was poured into fine china.

Tea strainers were used back then, to filter the dark, wet leaves that had originally been picked on the slopes of some lower-Himalayan tea garden. No tea bags. No drink-and-go mugs with large handles. They were genteel times, befitting the use of wonderful cups and saucers.

I can’t remember the first time I tasted tea, but it's always been a part of my life. Later, just after I entered my teens, I went to a boarding school that was to have a great influence on my life – and it was located in Darjeeling, home to some of the most famous tea gardens in the world.

Now that I am an adult and a parent, my mornings still begin with The Great Tea Ritual – but I use tea bags and I make my tea in a handy (large) mug with a handle large enough for a ploughman to grip.

But I don’t think I heard the word "cream" being used in the context of a cup of tea until I became a sports journalist and found myself on my international flights than I can remember.

This shot was taken during my recent Outback trip to the New South Wales town of Temora. I stopped for breakfast in the little town of Glenrowan, where I had a rather generous meal served (naturally) with a pot of tea – but no cream!

This was an interesting logistical exercise, because I first had to set the focal length on my camera, then do everything simultaneously. I poured the tea with my left hand and shot the images with my right.

You think that’s easy? Mate, let me tell you just how difficult it is – you have to be seriously quick, so that the condensation in the cold air doesn’t cloud up the lens of your camera.


Visit TNChick's Photo Hunt. Today's theme: "Creamy''.