Lipton has a tea shop on the 11th floor (I think) of the Tokyo Prince
Hotel, just near to the Tokyo Tower and across the street from where I
used to work. I went there a few times. The staff was nice and
typically innocent. Like many places, all they know is their brand.
They were so impressed by my smidgen of limited knowledge that we had
to trade business cards and hopefully speak again soon. It will never
happen, but it was nice anyway. Lipton is crap. That is all there is to
say. Brooke Bond sells a lot here in Japan as well. Brooke Bond is also
crap. These companies blend away any genuine flavor that there is in
their teas by mixing everything from their former Indian, Sri Lankan,
and African slave colonies. There are how many tea producing areas in
Sri Lanka alone? More than a dozen major areas and all with very
distinctive flavors. Check the Sri Lanka Tea Board website at
http://www.pureceylontea.com/ The former imperialist view is that if it
isn't strong enough mix it with something totally different until the
water turns brown. Ugandan tea and Kenyan tea themsleves are quite
different. Who in their right minds would mix Assam and Uva? These
people have no respect for the tea itself and especially for the
ignorant American consumer. They sell the LOWEST grade of garbage to
Americans purposefully. Americans should boycott them completely. If
you want a good strong black tea drink what Indians drink - nilgiri
from south India. These people know more about tea than the English,
without a doubt. They don't add anything to it and enjoy it for what it
is. Nilgiri is, however, perfect with milk. It is sad that the ignorant
masses in most areas outside of South Asia will never hear of it. And
since these people have lost a good portion of their population and
industry in recent tsunami attacks I believe they could use your money
more than former imperial powerhouses who made their fortunes off the
toil of the third world.

Bitterly,

Rufus Firefly
Tokyo