52x52: Make a Cup of Tea

52 random acts of kindness that each take under 52 seconds. One action each week, over a year takes less than an hour of your life.

Making someone a cup of tea (or coffee or hot chocolate) is just a matter of adding hot water to some leaves, ground beans or granules but means so much more.

My Nan used to stew her tea on the stove and my gran had her tea weak and sweet in a china cup. I have mine weak and black because of my time living in Italy and everyone I know has similar preferences and idiosyncrasies when it comes to their own cup of  tea. It is as personal as clothes or hair styles. Here are some of the things to consider when making a cup of tea:

• Weak or strong?
• Tea bag or leaves?
• Flavour of tea? 
• Caffeine or decaf?
• Pot or cup?
• Cup or mug? 
• Black or white?
• Milk first or last?
• Dairy or dairy free milk?
• Leave tea bag in or take out?
• Sugar, sweetener or nothing?
• Lemon or lime? 

A cup of tea is an expression of your taste and personality and something which can be easily shared. When someone knows 'how you like it' its a sign that they know you. And when they make you one its a social offering like a breaking of bread together.  

Uses for a Cup of Tea:

1. Refreshment
2. Social activity
3. Comfort
4. Hydration
5. Dying paper to create sepia effect
6. Fortune telling (in the tea leaves)
7. Warmth by drinking or holding
8. Health benefits 
9. Article subject (see one written by George Orwell)
10. Communication lubrication (ie. having a chat over a cuppa)
11. Hospitality offering
12. Reminder of old tin tea caddies and wooden chests with stencilled far off places used to carry your belongings when you moved to your new home and nowadays sold in vintage shops
13. Excuse for a cake or biscuit (and the chocolate sandwich biscuit challenge  - using a Penguin type biscuit as a straw by biting off both ends and sucking)

So make someone a cup of tea (or coffee or any hot beverage) - whatever it will be eventually used for.