There are three main non-work-related topics of discussion in the office. Football, family films from the 1980’s (The Flight of the Navigator being a particular favourite) and most recently, tea.

Like most offices all over the country ours is split into three different types of people – coffee drinkers, tea drinkers and those strange ones who don’t have anything hot. Up until recently, the tea drinkers were happy to live off PG Tips, Typhoo and when feeling adventurous, Tetley. However, recently strange varieties of tea have found their way onto the drinks shelf. Lady Gray, Chai and one called Assam (who I thought played for Liverpool) are just three I can recall from memory.

I have generally been a coffee drinker at work and steered clear of tea. However now all these exotic flavours have been made available, I’ve been tempted to drop the coffee granules for fancy tea bags. The other reason for this is because I recently bought a Nespresso coffee maker for the house. This makes truly amazing coffee and therefore renders all instant stuff, even the posh variety, awful.

The teas have certainly been interesting. Most notably a smoky one, which tastes like a pot of Tetley’s boiled on a barbecue. I drink that one under strict moderation. In fact, I’ve only had one cup. Something that smoky can’t be good for the lungs. The spicy, cinnamon flavours are my favourite.

All this foreign tea has upset the traditional tea drinkers, who for years having been content with the regular brands, now have to reach into any number of different tea boxes when making a round of hot drinks. I think the initial annoyance has finally calmed down, although I am tempted to bring in a ‘Teas of the World’ gift box from Whittards.