Wordie: Tea

5 days ago chained_bear said:

"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

9 months ago bilby said:

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

12 months ago npydyuan said:

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

12 months ago uselessness said:

The package had Randy Moss on the front.

12 months ago reesetee said:

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

12 months ago uselessness said:

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.

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