AND FINALLY: Tops for tea

It’s a familiar cry that you can’t get a decent cup of tea when ‘abroad’ but it won’t wash any more in Budapest, where the Corinthia Hotel has appointed a 'tea sommelier'. No, really. 

The owner of this grand title is Eszter Kalman and the Corinthia becomes the first and only hotel in the city to offer this kind of expertise. Not the first of her kind perhaps, but she has an interesting CV.

Kalman joins the hotel following a career with the East India Company and as a junior 'tea master' in London hotels. And in case you think it’s the sort of job anyone can do, her knowledge extends to the different types, flavours and cultures of tea as well as tea’s harvesting secrets, preparation methods and serving styles.

It was her thirst (sorry) for tea-knowledge that led her to join the East India Company, where she learned the technique of tea blending, sampled exceptional limited-edition types and blends, and assisted an Indian tea master, who divulged his tricks of the trade following 25 years in the tea industry.

Kalman, who is based in the hotel’s Le Bar, says: “When guests come in, I often already know what kind of tea would suit them best.” www.corinthia.com/hotels/budapest

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