Consumer champion organisation Which, has been out and about checking out the prices of our favourite drink in takeaways and other suspect establishments. Read the rest of this entry »
Office Cuppa Blog
Cuppa ‘Costa’ a lotta
July 5th, 2010Man poisons wife with a cuppa!
May 17th, 2010Extrodinary stuff in The Times. Journalist John-Paul Flintoff (presumably no relation of the cricketer?) claims that he nearly brought a premature end to his marriage by poisoning his wife with herbal tea!
The said lady, Harriet, nearly met her maker by drinking too much comfrey tea which contains traces of pyrrolizidine alkaloids.
We at officecuppa aren’t surprised – we’ve always been pretty suspicious of that new fangled ‘erbal stuff and should stick to a good brown cup o’ char.
How I poisoned my wife The Times (17th May 2010)
There is a mug for every eventuality
January 29th, 2010Just spotted.
Designer Dominic Skinner has come up with a rather ingeniuos mug that enables drinkers to store their digestive biscuit in a neat ledge below the brew.
The patented drinking vessel is ideal if you like a couple of biscuits with your tea or coffee. Apparently, the slot of the Dunk cup should always face away from you when drinking so that the biscuits in the slot move towards the back of the mug rather than onto your lap.
The Dunk Mug
Available from Mocha
Lefty journo says make tea for colleagues
November 25th, 2009The Guardian newspaper recently extolled the virtues of making tea for your work collegues. In the article “If you only do one thing this week … make tea for your colleagues” the writer pointed out what we at OfficeCuppa already know;
“Once you have made your colleagues tea they will of course owe you a cuppa. It’s an investment, and the returns can be brilliant. Next time you are stuck at your desk, bogged down in work and parched, one of your colleagues may just come over and return the favour.“
Tea is the backbone of the British workplace. The article also pointed out some of the health benefits of tea drinking.
However, the journo was concerned that, “Making a round of tea may also be the only way to make sure you get a perfect brew.” Obviously she had not heard of OfficeCuppa – the brewlist funtion solves that problem eh!
Bring back the tea trolley
November 16th, 2009Apparently us office workers would like to see the a friendly lady coming round with a tea trolley. (Office staff would welcome the return of the tea trolley, a survey suggests). It’s an old story from August 2007 (must have been a slow news day!) – but we think it still rings true.
I am not old enough to remember the tea lady, but I have to say, in today’s computer dominated workplace I quite fancy seeing a rickety trolley with a steel urn trundling past at 11am and 4pm. Wouldn’t you?
Tea Time Factoids
October 30th, 2009Did you know that tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world? The first, of course is water.
Here some more interesting facts to mull over whilst you enjoy your brew.
- Until the nineteenth century, solid blocks of tea were used as money in Siberia.
- The Irish drink more tea per head than any nation in the world.
- According to legend, Tea was accidentally invented in 2737 BC when Chinese Emperor Shennong spotted some tea leaves blew into a pot of boiling water and produced a pleasing aroma. Some also claim that Shennong invented the plough.
- By 1800 England alone was consuming 24 million pounds of tea per year. Most tea consumed in England between 1650 and 1850 was green and oolong – not black as you may think.
- Tea first appeared in Europe (Holland) in 1608. From then until about 1850 China, with rare exception, was the sole source of all the tea drunk in the Western World.
- The English East India company held a monopoly on all China tea exports to the British Isles and Americas for two hundred years.
- Just as in 1608, China continues to recognise and exports six categories of tea, green, white, oolong, yellow, red and Puer.
- Tin boxes were too expensive, so New York importer Thomas Sullivan looked for a cheaper way to send his tea samples to clients. Wrapping the tea in gauze “packets” seemed the perfect answer, but his customers were bemused by the new “packaging.” Instead of removing the tea, they dropped it, gauze and all, into boiling water. Without realising it, Sullivan had created the tea bag!
- Tea contains about 50% less caffeine than coffee, making it a great alternative to those that are sensitive to caffeine intake.
- An average of three billion cups of tea are consumed daily worldwide.
OfficeCuppa.co.uk brings Web 2.0 functionality to tea and coffee making
October 23rd, 2009An end to the repeated question: “How do you take yours?”
The ritual of making tea or coffee for your office colleagues is about to be transformed with the launch of www.officecuppa.co.uk an online method for storing drinks preferences.
OfficeCuppa is free and allows the creation of a simple list detailing tea, coffee or other hot drinks. Members can choose the strength of their drink and the quantity of milk and sugar using an attractively designed horizontal slider, coupled with a handy function allowing the ‘Brew List’ to be printed ready for display in the kitchen area.
The orange and tan themed website allows users to move their list-making from temperamental .doc lists carelessly stored on a PC desktop to a wizzy online system.
As more office communication goes through sites like F**cbook, Tw@tter and Link’dbin, one of Britain’s oldest office traditions has finally had the online support it needs to survive in a wired world.
According to the team behind OfficeCuppa the site also gives a voice to drinkers who have more extreme likes. “Those people who enjoy tea like ‘flea-pee’ or ‘builders-mud’ now have a way of reminding their colleagues that a ‘middling’ brew is not for them”, a spokesperson said. This site could mean the end of ever needing to repeat that question “How to you take yours?”.
OfficeCuppa even helps those poor mugs reliant upon a capitalist vending machine for refreshment as it will remind you of the type of ‘slurry’ to order.
Soon to have office celebra-titty endorsement, OfficeCuppa has been brewed up for use by workers united by their hate of graft and love of a nicely made cuppa.
Can tea drinking reduce cut diabetes
October 19th, 2009That fine libreral tabloid The Daily Express reports (19/09/2009) that a study by reserchers at a Dutch univeristy shows that regular tea drinking may reduce the risk of Diabetes by a wopping 42%. So get brewing!
The BBC guide to tea
October 15th, 2009Auntie (the BBC) has helpfully compiled an introduction to tea in Britain. You probably know it all but there might be a nugget or two that interests you.
There are also some recipes using tea, such as the rather revolting sounding Tea-smoked quail with oriental coleslaw!
OC brings order to one chaotic kitchen..
October 26th, 2009We love feedback (when it’s positive) and want to share other cuppa users’ experiences with the world. Read this company’s slightly tongue-in-cheek description of OC adoption in their office (they even sent us a pic of their BrewList).
Thanks,
Team at OfficeCuppa
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