Nicey

An invaluable guide to one of life's great cornerstones. It elucidates some of the great mysteries of tea, for instance why tea from dark-coloured mugs never tastes right, and points out others which are forever unsolvable, such as why emergency services tea always tastes glorious.

But despite the title, with its emphasis on the life-giving beverage, the great triumph of this book is the Venn Diagram of Biscuits. I firmly believe this should be available as a poster for the kitchen, and ideally also an apron. I for one would do more cooking if it were!… (mere)

Turns out that there is almost no new tea information here, such as brand differences, but very detailed info on various British biscuits, including pics. Finally, I now know what a Jaffa Cake is. The author stretches the book out a few more pages than he should by adding little essays about the discomfort of riding on a coach bus or train, and his many digs makes it clear he disdains Americans, which can be annoying, not funny, when you just wanted to read about tea and biscuits. The biscuit info is very thorough though.… (mere)

... Nicey And Wifey's Nice Cup Of Tea And A Sit Down by (who else?) Nicey and Wifey. You can get a good dose of Nicey and Wifey's love of tea, biscuits and a sit down by visiting their site. For the full hit of that delightfully understated but hilarious British humor, as well as good pointers for tea and biscuits, read their book where it is all pulled together. This excerpt is from their most recent biscuit review on their site and gives you a taste of Nicey's charm.

"Now straight away I'll cut to the chase and tell you why we have over looked these biscuits for so long. It was simply their name that put me off. Yes I know that's a poor reason but I'm sure it's true. You see despite the biscuits having obvious qualities, made by Fox's, that golden crunchy biscuit they do so well, chocolate covered and cream up the middle, I couldn't get past the name. Even for Fox's Classic seemed a bit presumptuous. How was it a classic? I thought of classics of fields of human endeavor, such as art, engineering and entertainment and tried to square this with the world of biscuits. Surely the Bourbon or the Rich Tea are classics. This rather complex chocolate bar wannabe was surely too contrived to merit such a name. And so I passed it by time after time, like somebody who frequents the same places as you and yet have never spoken to."

Why buy the book when you can visit the site? That is a good question. It probably helps that Tom's years of London living has made him a connoisseur of British cookies (biscuits) and he has passed that obsession knowledge on to me. In turn, of course, the girls have become addicted knowledgable as well. So I know most of these biscuits personally and enjoy Nicey's writing style (as well as Wifey's little comments along the way). Also it can't be denied that it is very handy having it all put together in one spot where it can easily be read in bed promoting sweet dreams after I drop off to sleep. That's my reason anyway. At the very least drop by and try the website. If you get hooked as I did, then you'll have to come up with your own reason to buy the book.… (mere)