I've had an electric kettle for years but so what if some don't?

When people (american people in particular) don't have kettles they often have those hot water on tap thingies - and the water that comes out of thhem isn't hot enough.

Only water at a rolling boil will make proper tea. You really can taste the difference.

Also I used to have a teasmaid - damn fine invention. I miss it.

I really, really hope chas didn't work for HMCE, because if he did it just proves what I've always suspected about people who work there.

Mc Vities NEVER argued Jaffa Cakes should be VAT-exempt, and HMCE (as they then were) NEVER argued biscuits were taxed at the standard rate.

Mc Vities argued Jaffa Cakes, as a cake, should be zero-rated for VAT, which isn't at all the same thing as being exempt and any Customs employee who thinks it is really ought to drummed out of the Service. Customs officials have no tolerance for traders who don't understand the difference, and it beggars belief they would tolerate such misunderstanding among their own staff.

HMCE have zero-rated biscuits (they're food) since VAT was introduced, as any Customs official should know. What's taxed at the standard rate are some CHOCOLATE biscuits, like Kit Kat, on the grounds they're confectionery. The Jaffa Cake case was about whether Jaffa Cakes were cakes or chocolate biscuits.

>.The Jaffa Cake case was about whether Jaffa Cakes were cakes or chocolate biscuits. <<

Until Mr Justice Cocklecarrot absentmindedly ate the evidence.

And as for teasmades - how do they warm the pot, that's what I want to know.

i'm quiote impressed that this Sceptere'd Isle...This blessed plot, this earth, this real, this england can have a high court judge deliberating over whether Jaffa Cakes are cakes not biscuits. No where else could I imagine this case.

Was the Judge HH Judge Cocklecarrot with the twelve red bearded dwarves?

Ha ha! Great middle aged minds think alike!

Teasmaids (note spelling) warmed the pot with the steam from the hot water.

I am now suffering a pang of nostalgia for my Teasmaid.

You can get them on EbayUK.

Im suffering nostalgia for a teasmaid I never had!

Where did this nonsense come from that if Americans don't have electric kettles they can't boil water? I've never met a single American family that didn't have a kettle for boiling water on the stove. You don't need a plug in kettle to get water to a full rolling boil.
My mother never had a plug in kettle in her life, but she makes tea every morning and the water is indeed boiling.

Sorted:

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/sear...title=teasmaid

I'm happy now. I'm not even bothered by the red bearded dwarves.

Most yanks don't know the rolling boil thing. Ditto the French - and pretty much most foreigners, aprt from the obvious (Indian, Irish, Aussies etc)

Incidentally it's an incredibly inefficient way to boil water on the hob. A kettle costs as little as a fiver and will pay for itself in fuel in short order.

FlannerUK

I apologise to the original poster for this thread going off at a tangent but the insulting reply by that numpty FlannerUK requires a response.

Statement from United Biscuits own web site:
"Back in 1991, we fought a battle with the VAT man to prove that Jaffa Cakes are cakes, not biscuits, and therefore should not attract VAT."

My message was merely in response to the statement by Audere that a Jaffa cake was not a cake. I was quoting from another web site and realised that 99.9% of the readers of this forum don't give a stuff about the difference between VAT exempt and VAT zero-rate. My message quite clearly refers to the fact that the tribunal's conclusion was that the product was a cake and therefore zero rated. I suspect that Flanner has been given a hard time by a VAT inspector at some point,probably deserved, given the sweeping generalisation and inaccuracy of his/her statement about me. If you want a debate about the finer points of partial exemption rules away from this forum, be my guest, otherwise stop posting rubbish like this.

Is there some additive in the orange bit of a Jaffa cake that makes people unduly excited?

Hmm, foolish me.

And I thought all that pseudo-expertise on VAT was: "Because I used to work for HM Customs and Excise"

No mention there of cutting and pasting someone else's sloppiness.

$30.00 to $60.00 each to have a cup of tea, some scones, a finger sandwich and maybe a piece of fruit? And a 16,11 or 10 year old kid is adamant about it! Thank you, I needed a good laugh.

This reminds me of the story of a harassed parent. When her daughter went into tantrum mode because she wasn't getting what she wanted, her mother told her that she had better get used to the word NO because all her life people will be telling her she cannot have what she wants.

The rolling boil is why one should never, ever, ever order tea in an American restaurant (except an Asian one). You will get a little metal pot with a hinged lid, filled with water from the coffee urn, which was about 190 degrees when it went in, more like 175 degrees by the time you get it, and a tea bag still wrapped, and a cold cup. Yuck.

Similarly, those "hot drink" taps, like the one we have at my work, are about 190 degrees -- fine for dissolving chemical cocoa powder, but not for tea.

You cannot extract the tea goodness unless the water that hits the tea is the full 212 degrees.

As for time and fuel savings, I never really "got" the electric kettle until we bought one. It's quire remarkable, the difference from our old Revere on the stovetop. Some Americans know how to make a proper cup!

And from my perspective Jaffa Cakes are neither cake NOR biscuits; more like prepackaged trash. What IS that plastic fruity filling supposed to be? Jam? Ugh! Hobnobs are very nice, though. The plain ones, please.

'$30.00 to $60.00 each to have a cup of tea, some scones, a finger sandwich and maybe a piece of fruit? And a 16,11 or 10 year old kid is adamant about it! Thank you, I needed a good laugh.

The OP is specifically asking for affordable alternatives - what's the problem with that?

That was the affordable options! 15-30 BP= 30 to 60 USD. some others are 30 to 40 BP = 60 to 80 USD. Um.... how dues an American child of 10 or 11 know anything about afternoon tea in London? Is it on the regular menu at home? LOL.

thread is far too long to read so sorry if this is duplicative but just returned from london and had tea at the orangery on the grounds of kensington palace--quite nice and very reasonable

Idaho Jane - there have been teas for £7.50 per head suggested - it can be done affordably.

The OP has come on here specifically to research costs and venues before making a decission - I don't see why she should attract critiscism for that.

I just picked this up at the end after reading the first part a few days ago. Tea for $305? Sell the kids. Disown them. Take the money out of their allowance.

But now I am seeing things about rolling boils and tea-making incompetence in various countries. Who could possibly care? Who wants to drink tea anyway? Shouldn't tea addicts report for treatment somewhere if they find tea to be such a drug?

Blimey - first we have people telling us football isn't important, and now tea doesn't matter either, apparently.

I think someone's trying to start a riot!

I don't know howe I'm going to break this to the British readers - but there are other varieties of Jaffa Cake sold to Johny Foreigner.

Specifically they make a blackcurrant jaffa cake and an apple and blackberry jaffa cake.

The horror! The horror!

Blackberry and apple is a hideous combination - they're welcome to 'em!

I haven't had a Jaffa cake in ages. I'd love one.

I can't bear boiling water for tea in a saucepan. I always feel like I'm camping.

Blimey - first we have people telling us football isn't important, and now tea doesn't matter either, apparently. >>>>>

Ignore them. They know not what they do.

Kerouac, you're free to drink something else, but surely you can agree that if you're going to have a cup of tea you want a real cup of tea and not repulsive dishwater? Do you drink coffee? If you went somewhere and found they routinely used the grounds twice, wouldn't you be a bit peeved? Or if all their Coke was oddly grape-flavored? You'd be saying "this isn't real Coke". It's the same thing. Tea: there's a right way and a wrong way. And boiling water is hardly an esoteric procedure.

The blackcurrant Jaffa cake isn't as horrible as the regular "orange" ones. Also, these different flavors are British, not foreign. We can only get the regular ones at our local import shop. You can't blame us.

I remember when the rubbery orange thing in the middle nearly covered the entire bisquit/cake. Sadly, it's much smaller these days.

My name is EnglishOne and Im a tea addict.

There, Ive confessed!

;-)

Stop talking about jaffa cakes now PLEASE, I havent got any in the house at the mo.... and Im sorry but I LIKE the sound of the other flavours!! shock horror.

Oh yes, and regarding the 'who cares about tea, who drinks it anyway? comment' - I have been on a tour in Canada with English Speakers and we had US Citizens with us. All they seemed concerned about was where to get a good cup of coffee, when our comfort stops were over, it was 'oh that was a bad place for coffee' etc etc..... SOOO we are as finicky about tea as you are about coffee. Does that make it clearer to understand? ;-) I usually take my own teabags when I travel as the hotel ones just are not up to scratch. Usually too weak.

Too much, tea is tea and coffee is coffee. Both are drugs...stimulants, and for now legal. The US system is simple, microwave!
What happened to the Finnish salt bit? The egg shell for coffee? Caffeine is the basis of the custom. I like ground expresso beans, as black as they come. Sometimes I can't get a spoon into the cup!

You can't microwave tea or coffee. You can reheat it there, I suppose, but you can't make it.

I guess that my problem is that I have no interest in hot beverages. I can drink 10 espressos and go to bed and sleep immediately -- caffeine apparently does not affect me. And coffee tastes horrible anyway. As for tea, it kind of tastes like furniture cleaner or something. Both of those beverages become completely something else if sugar and/or milk are used, and in that case, who cares how it was brewed? It's like mixing whiskey and cola -- if the whiskey was any good, there is no way of knowing anymore if you pour cola into it. Hot chocolate is just an inferior version of cold chocolate. As a warm-blooded creature, I certainly do not need to heat myself additionally, but I do sometimes need a cool beverage when I am overheated.

I guess I kind of feel sorry for people who need tea or coffee to start the day. I can jump out of bed as though mounted on springs at 5 or 6 am -- it is unbearable when I have to wait for somebody else to get their fix.

I do drink coffee, however -- it is still the cheapest way to get a seat for hours in a Parisian café.

Even a non-tea-drinker can tell the difference between a properly brewed cup and a crap one, even if there is milk and a tiny bit of sugar in it. Unless you have no palate at all.

You could have a very nice tea at the following

Fortnum & Mason
The Wolseley both on Piccadilly
If you like a lovely room at a nice art gallery - even if you don't want to see the gallery - go to the Wallace Collection and have tea in the courtyard there (close to Selfridges)
All hotels will be ridiculously expensive and not worth it!
I am a Londoner - I know!

Ha ha ha ha I'll say it again! $30 to $60 USD for 10 or 11 year old kid to drink a cup of TEA! I don't care how properly brewed it is. LOL. We are not poor but not rich either but... come on! I guess maybe if they drink enough properly brewed English tea they too can be as british as Madonna! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Fourteen "ha"s makes you sound a little nutty, Jaane. And you know, they're not paying for the tea; they're paying for the Empire.

I've had some pretty bad tea in a few London hotels (at breakfast). Downright stewed it was.....

hi,

I don't understand the remarks that americans don't have kettles- my suggestion was specifically aimed at the OP in her hotel, where she will undoubtedly have a kettle and some tea-bags.

audere - you need to yearn for a teasmaid no longer. the aforementioned swan/goblin web-site can supply a new one. I thought that £60 was a lot for a new one [though cheaper than afternoon tea in london, as it turns out] so when our old goblin teasmaid gave up the ghost, after 15+ years of sterling service i looked through the small ads in iour local paper [the wonderfully named "West Briton", complete with reports of the local WI and lists of mourners at funerals] and bought a 2nd hand one of £10. a morning cuppa without leaving the warmth of the bed-clothes may be yours!

regards, ann