Wordie: Tea: Comments

Comment by chained_bear, 9 days ago

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:11:36 +0000

"The dramatic increase of people available to populate the new urban spaces of the Industrial Age may have had one other cause: tea. The population growth during the first half of the eighteenth century neatly coincided with the mass adoption of tea as the de facto national beverage... Brewed tea possesses several crucial antibacterial properties that help ward off waterborne diseases: the tannic acid released in the steeping process kills off those bacteria that haven't already perished during the boiling of the water. The explosion of tea drinking in the late 1700s was, from the bacteria's point of view, a microbial holocaust... Largely freed from waterborne disease agents, the tea-drinking population began to swell in number, ultimately supplying a larger labor pool to the emerging factory towns, and to the great sprawling monster of London itself."
—Steven Johnson, The Ghost Map (New York: Penguin, 2006), 94–95

Comment by bilby, 10 months ago

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 20:09:25 +0000

Cricket jargon: a 20-minute rest interval during a test match when the players leave the field for refreshments.

Comment by npydyuan, 12 months ago

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:56:35 +0000

Now if they could just get a giant vergerhade to hock the tea, they'd be in business!

Comment by uselessness, 12 months ago

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:27:42 +0000

The package had Randy Moss on the front.

Comment by reesetee, 12 months ago

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:22:13 +0000

Oh, that's just silly. The NBA maybe, but the NFL? ;->

Comment by uselessness, 12 months ago

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:14:14 +0000

For some thought-provoking discussion, see: waxed paper.

In other news, last night I dreamed that Celestial Seasonings had partnered with the NFL for a promotional campaign targeted at 20- and 30-something male sports fans. Oddest dream I've had in a while. It was probably prompted by a recent conversation I had with someone about how tea may or may not be overtaking coffee as the most popular breakfast drink in America.