Everywhere we look on our pantry shelves these days our food items are shrinking—literally. Manufacturers obviously think we’re all idiots and won’t notice if they reduce a box of cereal from 250 grams to 200 grams then to 185 grams without changing the price. It’s their sneaky way of upping the unit cost to us without upping the price and frankly I’m getting really fed up. The issue has been covered on the consumer reports portion of the news on TV and we’re all aware of the trend. My morning box of Kashi is now so skinny it doesn’t get me through the week. A loaf of bread doesn’t even make half a dozen sandwiches anymore. Boxes of tissue and rolls of toilet paper are getting thinner and smaller but at least we have the option of buying jumbo size for those of us who want some heft.

Now they’ve gone and messed with something very dear to my heart. Tea bags. As a consumer of several mugs of nature’s wonder fuel every day, I’ve noticed that lately I’m deliberately adding less and less milk in an attempt to get that wonderful tea hit. I love a good strong cuppa and what’s coming out of my tea-pot spout these days resembles fairy piss. Then, my friend Gail made a comment when we were having an afternoon cup of tea at a friend’s home. “Does tea seem weaker to you these days?” she asked.  “Do you think they’re putting fewer tea leaves in the bag?” Bang! The light bulb went on.

Now that we’ve identified the problem, I hope adding an extra bag to my big red pot will take care of things. I don’t actually have any old bags (no personal jokes here please) to measure the weight for a consumer report-style comparison but I’m inclined to think my friend Gail is right. Listen. Boomers Broads have enough to worry about already. Our hair’s falling out, our knees are sagging and our flapping upper arms are threatening to give us lift-off. Don’t mess with our tea bags. We’re not up for the stress and we can get ugly if we don’t get our fix. Keep an eye on your wine, ladies.