Brewing up a love story over a pot of tea

John McAreavey has spoken about how drinking tea as a student played a central role in him falling in love with his wife Michaela.

The 27-year-old daughter of Tyrone GAA manager Mickey Harte was brutally murdered in Jan 2011, while on honeymoon with John at the Legend’s Hotel in Mauritius. Two men were acquitted of her murder last year.

Writing in Put the Kettle on: Ireland’s Love Affair With Tea, compiled by Juanita Browne, John spoke of how after hectic college nights out in Belfast, tea played a seminal role in bringing him into contact with the woman he would eventually marry.

In the book, John recounts that Michaela’s house as a student served as the tea house where people would go back to for a cuppa after a night on the tiles. From those tea-filled nights, romance blossomed.

“Michaela and her three friends lived in a house there, right in the centre of the Holy Lands, and Michaela and her best friend, Edel, were pioneers,” writes John.

“After a night out, all their friends would come back down to the Holy Lands and almost anyone who arrived at their door would be let in, but you wouldn’t get anything stronger than tea there, and maybe toast and biscuits.

“I actually got to know Michaela through the tea house. We went there one night with a couple of her friends, to a sort of after-party. I remember there was just tea everywhere, and because there was no alcohol, things never got messy. It was just nice to be able to sit and get a cup of tea at two o’clock in the morning.”

In fact, John said that the tea house proved so popular among students that when he and Michaela eventually started dating, they found it difficult to get some time to themselves.

“When I first started to go out with Michaela, and before people knew we were a couple, I remember nights sitting in the tea house until seven or eight in the morning, because we were waiting to get a bit of alone time, to have a wee court, but people wouldn’t leave... But that’s what she was like: she was a really good host. She probably got it from her own house. The Hartes are all big tea drinkers,” he wrote.

Poignantly, the last time he saw his wife alive was as they were about to share a pot of tea after a swim. Michaela ran back to their room to get some biscuits, but never returned.

The book takes readers through Irish people’s unique relationship with tea. Whether you take it weak, strong through leaves or in a bag, in a plain mug or in fine china — the fact is few people love a cup of tea like the Irish.

From birth, through to marriage and eventually death — the cup of tea is central to most of the dramatic events in an Irish person’s life.

Only in Ireland can people of a certain age remember being reared on cups of tea, while watching a soap opera where most of the action involved people making cups of tea.

Mary McEvoy, forever known as the spouse of Miley “Well, Holy God” Byrne — the long suffering Biddy, may have made the most cups of tea in Ireland. It’s good to learn that she is a fan.

“While working on Glenroe, I can only imagine how many cups of tea I made in character, as Biddy,” she said.

“Life for those characters literally revolved around cups of tea. It’s extraordinary really, and there never was any coffee on set.

“When the writers put two or three people together in one place to discuss something enormously life-shattering, it usually took place around a pot of tea at a table. Even the furniture referred to tea. There were about ninety-seven cups hanging on the dresser in the kitchen and only two cups were used.”

While Mary is not a fan of anything other than traditional Irish style tea, wedding planner Peter ‘Franc’ Kelly goes for a range of varieties and even owns a tea room at Glanworth Mill in Cork.

“I like the ritual of making tea. I like Barry’s tea, probably because I grew up with it in West Cork. I like iced fruit teas probably because I spent happy days working in the Caribbean as a young chef,” he wrote.

“Mint tea is nice but it always reminds me of a diet. I drink strong tea: If I’m drinking Barry’s loose tea I will add a pinch of Darjeeling to give it a little kick.”