One of the things that people don’t really know about me is that I can be pretty snobby, but it only really comes into play with certain things, food and drink is one of those things. My snobbery isn’t based on a brands name, or shopping in a particular store, I try not to buy into perceived prestige. My snobbery is based on the quality of the product, the name on the package or where it was bought from quite regularly doesn’t guarantee quality.
With that said, because I’ve had good experiences with them, I have come to associate particular brands or stores with a certain level of quality. One of these is M&S food, their own branded ranges are usually a reasonable balance of quality and price, and I’ve never had a product of theirs that wasn’t at least good. So if I want to treat myself to something that I know is going to be reliable I head to M&S.
One of things I tend to treat myself to is tea, I love a good cup of loose leaf tea made in a teapot. As the name ‘loose leaf’ suggests, a sign that a tea is going to be of better quality is that it’s made up of something that is recognisable as at least part of a dried leaf. Bad quality 'loose leaf’ tea generally looks nothing like leaves of any kind and instead resembles dark brown gritty dust.
I have gone out of my way to treat myself to a 'premium’ tea from M&S, spending a little more on it than normal supermarket 'loose leaf’, only to end up with a bag of gritty dust. To say that I’m disappointed is an understatement, I just hope that it tastes better than it looks… SPOILER ALERT… it doesn’t, it tastes only slightly better than tea made using a standard teabag. I’m very disappointed in you M&S, I expected better.
