Stick the kettle on this Saturday July 12th at 7am and Sunday July 13th at 6pm and have a listen to 'Tea Please' a documentary that will explore the reasons why we drink so much tea.
Producer Caoilin Rafferty uncovers 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.
You can listen to the full documentary below.
The feature documentary also examines 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.
Tea Please also takes a trip down memory lane to talk to those who grew up drinking orthodox leaf tea and how tea bags changed everything in the seventies.
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 airs on Newstalk 106-108fm on Saturday 12th July 7am, repeated Sunday 13th July at 6pm.
Tea Pleasecan also be listened to online at: www.newstalk.ie/player at the times listed above.
Podcast available at: www.newstalk.ie/documentaryonnewstalk after the broadcast.
‘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.
