In “Tea Please”, broadcasting this weekend on Newstalk, Producer Caoilin Rafferty discovers why it is that the Irish love their tea so much
Stick the kettle on and have a listen to “Tea Please” a documentary that will explore the reasons why we drink so much tea…
This documentary will uncover the many secrets behind Irish tea, why we are one of the biggest tea drinking nations in the world and how our tea taste habits have changed throughout the years
We will also examine the tea rations in Ireland during World War 2, which, consequently lead to the set up of the Irish Tea Importers Ltd. This meant the Irish bypassed the London Tea Auctions and bought quality tea direct from source themselves.
We will also take a trip down memory lane and talk to those who grew up drinking orthodox leaf tea and how tea bags changed everything in the seventies.
‘Tea Please’ will be broadcast on Newstalk 106-108fm, on Saturday 21st February at 7am, and repeated at 10am on Sunday 22nd February.
Quotes from Tea Please
“I’m known as a teaholic, I drink it till the cows come home, I grew up on a farmhouse so as you can imagine the tea never stopped, you could trot a mouse on it, it was that strong”
“When we couldn’t get tea during the war, my mother used to toast carrots instead”
“During World War Two the English restricted the quantity of coal and tea coming into Ireland… The Irish government was very unhappy with this as we were still a very big tea-drinking nation. All the tea at that time was brought through the London tea auction, in fact, it was the only tea auction in the world at that time and certainly the largest seller of tea… so after WW2 the Irish government set up Tea Importers Ltd and… they made a statement that they would never buy tea from London again they would buy directly through the source”
“Tea Importers became the Irish bank of Commerce back in the 1960s and the Irish Bank of Commerce was ultimately taken over by the now defunct Anglo Irish bank”
‘Tea Please’ and can be listened to live online at www.newstalk.com
Podcast available at: www.newstalk.com/documentaryonnewstalk after the broadcast.
CREDITS: ‘Tea Please’ was Produced, Recorded and Edited by Caoilin Rafferty. The project was supported by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, as part of the Sound And Vision Scheme.
