Some time ago, Howard Pau, owner of Dublin's Asia Market, had a shattering experience: his teapot got broken. Mrs Pau couldn't understand the fuss he made about it. It was only a teapot, after all. "Only a teapot?" he cried. "It was given to me by a friend. I drank my tea from it. Every day." I know just how he felt. A teapot is a dear companion, to be cherished as much for itself as for what goes into it. On my kitchen shelf, I have two teapots and a teacup, all special. One teapot was brought to me from Sydney although it was made in Taiwan. It's a balloon-shaped glass-and-chrome job. A basket, suspended by a metal shaft, holds the tea in the water. When the infusion is complete, you raise the metal shaft, fold it over on its hinge and the tea basket is withdrawn from the water - a movement that has a ring of music to it.
The other pot, from China, is a work of decorative art, fashioned from slate-blue clay, so tiny you can cup it in the palm of your hand. Yet the minuscule spout pours like a dream, the holes in the spout preventing the leaves going into the cup.
The Korean teacup, a gift from Seoul, is a small glazed bowl into which goes an inner bowl, its base pricked with holes. The tealeaves are put in this strainer, the water is poured on top and the lid replaced until the leaves have been steeped long enough. When it's ready, you remove the lid and the clay strainer and drink the tea. Tea-making, done properly, is a slow, contemplative business and no country does it better than Japan where its main influence has been Zen Buddhism. In the tea-room at the Japanese embassy in Dublin, the Ambassador, Mrs Kuzuko Yokoo, showed me some of the things needed for the tea ceremony: the tatami mat which conceals the sunken charcoal fire, the charcoal carrier, the whisk for cleaning the bowls, the container for the water and the plaited-reed scoop for lifting it out.
"The water is boiled and then it must be calmed," explained Mrs Yokoo, "and for that it goes in a special kettle." The tatami room itself is a sea of calm. A series of paper-thin screens can be pushed aside or upwards to give different views of the garden with its waterfall and its length of bamboo through which water drips rhythmically onto a stone. "After a while," said Mrs Yokoo, "the dripping water will wear a perfectly smooth hole in the stone. But not, of course, in my lifetime."
The tea-ceremony is a form of meditation conducted by a tea-master - the embassy flew one over from London to perform the opening of the new tea-room. However, there is less ritual in the everyday serving of tea.
It was from China that tea came originally. Discovered over 2,000 years ago, its botanical name is Camellia Sinensis. In China, according to Howard Pau, the tea aficionados are the people of the Chiu Chow province. "They will pay £200 for a couple of ounces of the best tea," he says.
The most expensive is wild tea, growing high on cliff tops, inaccessible to man - which is why monkeys are sent up to get it. You can even divide China into two parts according to what tea they drink. "North of the Yangtze River," says Mr Wang, cultural attache at the Chinese embassy," people drink only Jasmine tea - the best is Lung Jing or Dragon Well."
Tea is being harvested about now - in Rwanda, Kenya, India, Sri Lanka and the 20 or so other countries which now produce it. Pickers are trained to take the bud and the two top leaves only. An experienced worker can pick up to 90,000 shoots in a day. This first cut is known as the first flush and considered the best of the harvest.
Once picked, the tea goes through various drying processes - known as firing - by being placed over mesh trays and allowed to dry. The longer this process takes, the darker the tea. Some leaves are smoked and perhaps the most famous of these is Lapsang Souchong which is processed in the Fujian province and gets its unique flavour from being fired over pine roots.
It was in the 1800s that tea replaced coffee as a e-society drink in England. As early as 1835, the first direct shipment from China to Ireland arrived in Kingstown, now Dun Laoghaire. It had been imported by Bewley's who thus managed to break the East India Company's monopoly on the tea trade.
This first cargo consisted of 2,099 cases of tea. Now, we drink more of it per head than any other country in the world, importing 10,000 tonnes a year which works out at nearly four cups per person per day.
"Most of our tea now comes from Kenya," says Paul O'Toole, Bewley's tea buyer, "though we also buy from Rwanda which produces some of the best." Irish people, he says, have good palates and will not settle for poor quality teas. "It's when they go away on holidays to Spain or the States that they realise how good the tea is here."
Tea-drinkers have it over coffee-drinkers when it comes to health. Although there are equal proportions of caffeine in both, you need less tea to make a good cup and, therefore, take in less caffeine. Mrs Yokoo is an advocate of herbal teas, more properly known as herbal infusions.
"I grow plants in my garden at home which I make tea from," she said, showing me some of the dried leaves her own mother had brought over from Japan. We struggled with the unfamiliar names and finally settled for what the plants were good for. One washes toxins out of the body. Another promotes sleep. A third gives you a rush of energy. (My own wake-up drink is an infusion of freshly grated root ginger.)
Of course, it all boils down to the making of the tea. Here are a few suggestions: always run the tap before filling the kettle; water used should be fresh. Never use water that has previously been boiled - it will have lost its oxygen. Heat the pot first with warm water. Leave green tea to infuse for three minutes, black tea for three to five and delicate first flush teas from two to five.
And, if you want to take yourself out to tea, head for the drawing room in Dublin's Merrion Hotel. There, they'll spoil you with a range of teas including iced-sorbet fruit teas, three-tier cake stands piled high with finger sandwiches and French pastries (the chef's Gateau Opera is wicked). And, as if that weren't enough, they'll also offer you a glass of champagne. Tea-time was never like this in the nursery.
3 Main Tea Types
Green: The least processed, it's usually rolled into tiny pellets (gunpowder) or long strands (sencha).
Black: Undergoes many processes including blow-drying, crushing, tearing, curling (known as CTC) as well as fermentation.
Oolong: The leaves are semi-fermented then spread out to wither, before being gently stirred by hand every hour.
Tea Tips
Look for First Flush Single Estate on the lable - both guarantees of excellence.
Avoid clear glass and plastic containers for storage. The leaves are sensitive to light. Use a caddy.
Keep your tea away from strong odours such as washing powder or onions. The leaves pick up scents easily.
Watch out for Taiwanese tea. They produce excellent amber and jade oolong teas.
Beware Long Island Iced Tea. It's not a tea at all but a potent, hangover mix of many different alcohols.
The classic book on tea is Kakuzo Okakura's The Book of Tea.
You can study the Japanese tea ceremony at London's Urasenke Foundation: 00 44 181 8532529