Tea & coffee

[Vonny]

Been mentioned before I know, but why did we have to drink tea & coffee out of those bowls? Very odd but I guess we all became used to it.

[DavebytheSea]

Kiff bowls? at Hertford? Well I never did!

I thought kiff bowls were marvellous especially when brim full of cold fresh milk straight from the home farm on a hot summer Sunday afternoon.

[englishangel]

I don't know if they were kiff bowls but the 'value' cereal bowls from
Tesco are very similar. I have half a dozen though I don't drink out of them.

And in the house we had melamine mugs in the house colour.

When I first went to CH I took two big spoonfuls of sugar in a mug. Then I gave it up for Lent when I was 14. I realised why I took it because tea without was disgusting. However when I put some in my tea (at home) on Easter Sunday I had to pour it away and have not taken sugar since.

Now the only time I take sugar is if I am working a night and I have to be awake at 5am.

[Vonny]

And in the house we had melamine mugs in the house colour.

When I first went to CH I took two big spoonfuls of sugar in a mug. Then I gave it up for Lent when I was 14. I realised why I took it because tea without was disgusting. However when I put some in my tea (at home) on Easter Sunday I had to pour it away and have not taken sugar since.

I don't think we had the house mugs during my time

I also gave up sugar in tea & coffee whilst at Hertford - the seniors wouldn't pass the sugar down to me (remember the long tables we sat at) and so I started drinking it without sugar and haven't looked back since!

[J.R.]

I can't remember coffee EVER being served up at Horsham.

Always kiff in the regulation kiff bowl !

[DavebytheSea]

Coffee, occasionally JR - but it was almost indistinguishable from regulation kiff. Drunk from kiff bowls and probably prepared in the giant kiff VATS which steamed noisily in the back passage of Dining Hall.

PS Is it true that some wag sent off a sample of kiff for analysis and back it came with a note - "Give your horse more grass!"?

[J.R.]

Coffee, occasionally JR - but it was almost indistinguishable from regulation kiff. Drunk from kiff bowls and probably prepared in the giant kiff VATS which steamed noisily in the back passage of Dining Hall.

PS Is it true that some wag sent off a sample of kiff for analysis and back it came with a note - "Give your horse more grass!"?

The old ones are the best ones, though I can honestly say I can't recall coffee at all.

Strangely, I've just developed an absolute craving for a marmite fritter, CH style.

[Alexandra Thrift]

I think we had a name for those bowls,but I can't remember it ( not kif).
When I started at Hertford there were still some of the old style bowls being used, with a blue pattern around the rim and the Christ's Hosp. crest .

Also we learned to hold them in a certain way using the thumb, index and middle finger.I still sometimes use a bowl and hold it that way.

I lived in Paris for 10 years and using a bowl for hot chocolate ( as they do there) was very reminiscent of C.H. for me.

[englishangel]

I think we had a name for those bowls,but I can't remember it ( not kif).
When I started at Hertford there were still some of the old style bowls being used, with a blue pattern around the rim and the Christ's Hosp. crest .

Also we learned to hold them in a certain way using the thumb, index and middle finger.I still sometimes use a bowl and hold it that way.

I lived in Paris for 10 years and using a bowl for hot chocolate ( as they do there) was very reminiscent of C.H. for me.

6's must have had patterned bowls, I remember them as plain.

I too hold French chocolate bowls like that, but I think it is natural beacuse my children drink the milk left after eating their cereal in the same way.

[midget]

When I first went to CH nearly all the bowls were patterned, but as they got broken they were replaced by plain ones. There were still quite a lot of patterned ones left in 1952, so what did you youngsters do to them?

[Vonny]

When I first went to CH nearly all the bowls were patterned, but as they got broken they were replaced by plain ones. There were still quite a lot of patterned ones left in 1952, so what did you youngsters do to them?

Certainly don't reacall having any in 2's between 1981 & 1985.

[Katharine]

6's must have had patterned bowls, I remember them as plain.

We made a great effort to collect the patterned bowls. When we saw any in the Dining Hall we smuggled them back to the house! I think we managed to get almost a full set.

I vaguely remember pale blue mugs, which discoloured horribly on the inside.

[englishangel]

I think in the houses we had house colour melamine mugs. As 6s colour was (?) dark blue they might well have been blue. We had dark green ones in 2's.

[Katharine]

Thinking again, it may have been patterned plates we smuggled back to House, not bowls. I definitely remember the smuggling!

[WildOne]

I remember there were a few tea-bowls left with those blue crests in the late 60's. I bet they would be worth a few bob now.

Been mentioned before I know, but why did we have to drink tea & coffee out of those bowls? Very odd but I guess we all became used to it.

I remember the bowls being stacked high, so I guess they really were more practical than anything with handles to get broken off.

I still eat cornflakes from a deep bowl so I can drink the remaining milk CH style with my index finger hooked neatly over the rim. It still feels natural and easy.

4.24 1965-1970