Clink, clonk, clank. My son was playing with my tea caddies a few days ago when I thought I could perhaps expand his olfactive horizons by making him smell some tea. At the grand old age of 18 months he is still too young to drink the stuff, but sniffing it gave him great pleasure. I gave him a teabag of English Breakfast and rubbed it under his nose. He smelled and emitted a loud, satisfied Ahhh.

Encouraged, I decided to move on to more serious stuff. Ditching the tea bags, I got out a caddy full of Pai Mu Tan leaves. Before I could even think of scooping out some for him to smell, he plunged his hand into the leaves, grabbed a fistful of them and shoved them into his mouth. Prising his jaw open and taking out half munched leaves one by one was an arduous task and I am sure he ended up eating a good three or four of them. So much for keeping his caffeine intake down…

Bruce Richardson, the founder of Elmwood Inn Fine Teas and one of my tea heroes, has a very interesting piece on the January number of Fresh Cup about Britain’s declining passion for tea (disclosure: I too have an article in January’s Fresh Cup).

I agree with his rather sad assessment that the British increasingly associate tea with older generations or as a medicine for an upset tummy. And it is lamentable but also true that the average London high street has more American-style coffee houses and Italian-style espresso bars than tea houses.

However, London is not Britain–in most villages you’ll find not a whiff of Starbucks, although you may find some nice cream teas organised by the local church. And tea remains very much a part of everyday British life. Perhaps because instant coffee on the fly is never very good, most offices have tea stations–that’s what they are called, I kid you not–with a kettle, a fridge (for milk) and bagfuls of PG Tips or, if you are lucky, Twinings.

Anecdotal evidence leads me to believe that specialty teas are on the rise. And green and herbal teas are especially popular with young people for their much-touted health benefits. Granted, the British tea industry needs to work hard to shake off its somewhat old-fashioned image before it is too late. But there is yet hope for tea in Britain.