A Nice Cup Of Tea (Prose)

Unit 2 – Prose

A Nice Cup of Tea

George Orwell

Warm Up

a) Here are a few varieties of tea. How many of these have you tasted? Tick the boxes.
- Herbal Tea Ice Tea Lemon Tea
- Green Tea Black Tea Tea with Milk

b) You would have seen lovely packets of tea on the shelves in supermarkets and shops. Have you ever wondered how tea powder is obtained from the plants? Look at the pictures and describe the process.

Reading – Essay by George Orwell

If you look up ‘tea’ in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points. This is curious, not only because tea is one of the mainstays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.

When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own eleven golden rules, every one of which I regard as golden:

1. Use Indian or Ceylonese tea.
   China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays – it is economical, and one can drink it without milk – but there is not much stimulation in it.

2. Tea should be made in small quantities – that is, in a teapot.
   Tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash.

3. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware.
   Silver or Britannia ware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad.

4. The pot should be warmed beforehand.
   This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water.

5. The tea should be strong.
   For a pot holding a quart, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. One strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones.

6. The tea should be put straight into the pot.
   No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. If the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly.

7. One should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about.
   The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact.

8. After making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle.

9. One should drink out of a good breakfast cup – that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type.

10. One should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea.
    Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.

11. One should pour tea into the cup first.
    By putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk.

12. Tea – unless one is drinking it in the Russian style – should be drunk without sugar.
    How can you call yourself a true tea lover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it?

About the Author

Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic whose work is marked by clear prose, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism and candid support of democratic socialism.
He is best known for the allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).

Glossary

• curious – interesting
• controversial – arguable, disputable
• virtues – admirable qualities
• despised – hated
• stimulation – excitement
• optimistic – positive, hopeful
• cauldron – a big pot used for boiling
• rationing – restricting the consumption of a scarce commodity during war
• dangling – hanging freely, suspended
• spout – the pipe-like opening in a teapot through which tea is poured out
• liable – likely
• mysterious – incomprehensible
• etiquette – socially acceptable behaviour

Comprehension Questions

1. Answer in one or two sentences

a) What seems ‘curious’ to the author?
b) Why does the author say that it is important to include a tea recipe in cookery books?
c) Mention the countries in which tea is a part of civilization.
d) Which tea does the author prefer – China tea or Indian tea?
e) According to the author, what does the phrase ‘a nice cup of tea’ refer to?
f) What is the second golden rule in the preparation of tea?
g) How does army tea taste?
h) Do tea lovers generally like strong tea or weak tea?
i) Why should tea be directly added to the pot?
j) Why does the author prefer the cylindrical cup to a flat cup?
k) What should be poured into the cup first – tea or milk?
l) Why does the author advise removing cream from the milk?
m) Does the author like drinking tea with sugar? Give reasons.
n) Why does the author refer to himself as being in ‘a minority’?
o) Whom does the author call ‘misguided people’? What is his advice to them?

2. Answer in four or five sentences

a) What are the author’s views on China tea?
b) How does adding sugar affect the taste of tea?
c) Elucidate the author’s ideas about teapots.

3. Answer in 100–150 words

a) Summarise George Orwell’s distinctive ideas in “A Nice Cup of Tea”.
b) Discuss how the essay reveals the factual points and the author’s personal opinions on the preparation of tea.
c) What are the aspects that contribute to humour in the essay?

4. Complete the chart

Golden Rules of Tea Preparation
- Tea should be made in small quantities in a teapot.
- The teapot should be made of china or earthenware.
- The pot should be warmed beforehand.
- The pot should not have strainers.
- While pouring water the teapot should be taken to the kettle.
- The tea leaves should be infused properly.
- After making tea, it should be stirred or the pot should be shaken.
- The milk for the tea should be without cream.
- The author does not like to add sugar to tea.

Vocabulary

a) Synonyms

1. violent disputes – conflicts
2. mainstays of civilization – a society in an advanced state of social development
3. warmed and stimulated – motivated
4. stray leaves – loose
5. sufficient – enough

b) Antonyms

1. despised – respected
2. optimistic – pessimistic
3. shallow – deep
4. arrival – departure
5. subtilized – inadequate

c) Word Forms

Listening – Significance of Tea

1. Which country is the largest tea producer in the world?
2. _____ percent of the tea produced in India is exported.
3. What is the role of antioxidants in tea?
4. Drinking tea strengthens one’s _, _ and ______.
5. How does drinking tea help a diabetic?

Speaking – Story: Potato, Egg & Coffee Bean

Prepare a speech on ‘The importance of developing a positive attitude’ for the school assembly.

Reading – Non-verbal Representations

Study the bar-chart on Fastest-Growing Occupations and write a paragraph on career trends in the next decade.

Emerging Career Options

Answer the questions based on