I'm just potty about vintage afternoon teapots. And I have rather an abundance of lovely teapots and coffee pots at the moment. But I do love a good tea pot, or a good coffee pot, for that matter. It just seems to make things taste nicer.

You see, I adore vintage afternoon tea, but i must admit , to my shame, that I don't actually like the taste of tea. I'm a coffee girl. I mean, I've tied tea...I want to like tea...I like serving tea...I even make good tea...but I just cannot abide the taste of the stuff!

And, as a non-tea-drinker, I am therefore utterly fastidious about the whole tea-making shenanigans.

I always make tea in a teapot and I warm the pot first [keeps the tea hot for longer, I'm told]. I use water that is boiling...and not cooled in any way. I serve tea in a very nice pot, accompanied by a small pot of boiling water and always, always with a bone china cup [and saucer]. In Margaret's Cottage, we have earl grey tea, Twinnings breakfast tea, chamomile, green, mint, Darjeeling and lots of fruit infusions. I'm not too sure about the whole lapsang souchong experience, but I can learn.

I just wish I liked the taste of tea., as I feel like I'm missing out. But it's simply not for me...I can't even drink it just to be polite. I can tolerate berry tea and I have been known to have a mint tea, if pushed. But really, my favourite tea is still G&T, and I'm sticking with that one.

So, I salute all you wonderful tea drinkers out there, whether you like "builders tea" as my daughter does, or "weak, dish-water tea" as my friend Geraldine does [her words, not mine]. But, what I do know is, however one likes one's tea is personal and it has to be the perfect cuppa.

I think you should put the kettle on now, don't you?!