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196 of 201 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The book I have been waiting my life for., 24 Oct 2004
This book is magnificent. It has, at last, taken one of the great British contributions to world civilisation, and put it into literary form. The act of taking tea and biscuits, an area of culture ignored for centuries, is finally given its due.Of course 'tea and biscuits' is an incredibly wide and complex subject, and the author (and his wife) acknowledge that they cannot possibly give an account of all its varieties and complexities. But what we get is a wide-ranging account of taking tea and biscuits- and an occasional cake- with illustrated descriptions and reviews of a range of biscuits at its heart. Not in the least insular, the author (and his wife) include accounts of the (few) significant biscuits offered from further afield, such as the Australian Tim Tam, the American Oreo, and (my favourite) the German Choco Leibniz alongside our familiar Gingernuts, Rich Tea and of course Digestives. The author, who had a scientific education, is a born writer. His style is straightforward and lucid. He is often extremely funny. I laughed out loud on a number of occasions,as early as page three, an account of 'My Worst Cup of Tea Ever'.Read it and you will see what I mean. The book is wide-ranging; aspects of taking tea that are covered include the development of the tea bag (an American invention, evidently); teapots, and their propensity to pour scalding tea over one's lap; and how to notate the endless ways your work colleagues take their tea when it is your turn to make it (a sore point with me). There is even a sensible short article on the presence of hydrogenated vegetable fat in biscuits (the stuff that sends your blood cholesterol level soaring), and, to cap it all, how to sit down to enjoy your tea and biscuit experience to the full. The book is beautifully presented, printed on quality paper, well illustrated, and very reasonably priced. I was going to withhold one star as there is no index (an unfortunate modern trend), but then I sat down, had a nice cup of tea and a biscuit, and decided to award it five.
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by Andrew Langley
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