A Guide to Writing Sherlockian-Tea Habits
or How to Prevent Your British Readers Thinking “wtf is John doing with that lapsang souchong?”
A reprint of the Reminiscences of enigmaticpenguinofdeath, a Tea-Drinking Englishwoman.
First off, I am not a tea sommelier. I don’t sell or work with tea, I have no professional qualifications in anything to do with tea. But I do drink tea, and I am British – English, to be more precise (and yes people from far-off lands, there is a difference, but I’ll stick to British for now). This means I am as well placed as anyone from this little island to be arrogantly judgemental about how some poor misguided people who aren’t fortunate enough to be British write strange, wtf-inducing descriptions of the consumption of tea. I am writing this with particular reference to Sherlock fanfiction and characters such as John, Sherlock, Mycroft and Greg, but some of my points are applicable to wider British-set-fandom fics in general.
It’s alright now, poor confused tea-worriers; I am here to help you. Not everyone likes to be individually Brit-picked so here is a primer in tea to set you on the right path. Let’s get down to business.
