NZ Move Reason #2: Tea

Since my brief stint in Russia, I’ve missed the daily ritual of tea. I love tea. I drink it without sugar, sometimes with milk or lemon. Since the day we arrived, I’ve commented on a daily basis that the first thing we need to buy for our Kiwi house is an electric tea kettle.


Like their British relatives, Kiwis drink tea. At work, you don’t just have breaks; they are “tea breaks.” And, as Michael discovered you use the tea brink to drink tea. Employers provide tea, and people actually drink it.

Every hotel room has an electric tea kettle and a tea pot, and we were handed a small bottle of milk at check-in in Napier so that our tea would be properly fortified.

The best example: at a barbeque on Friday night, Michael commented to an Irish coworker that we don’t have electric tea kettles in the States. This turned into a conversation with the whole group about the inconceivability at our tea-kettle deficiency. They were incredulous when I told them Americans heat our water for tea on the stove. It was tantamount to announcing that Americans are barbarians. Perhaps the only thing more tragic in a Kiwi’s eyes would be warm beer.

I think I’ve convinced Michael that the tea kettle is a necessity…. we otherwise might be ostracized from Kiwi society.