As a British expat living in Asia, I was heavily amused to read this passage in Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age:
There was lengthy discourse between the two men on which of them was more honored to be in the company
of the other, followed by exhaustive discussion of the relative merits of the different teas offered by the proprietors,
whether the leaves were best picked in early or late April, whether the brewing water should be violently boiling as
the pathetic gwailos always did it, or limited to eighty degrees Celsius.
There was lengthy discourse between the two men on which of them was more honored to be in the company of the other, followed by exhaustive discussion of the relative merits of the different teas offered by the proprietors, whether the leaves were best picked in early or late April, whether the brewing water should be violently boiling as the pathetic gwailos always did it, or limited to eighty degrees Celsius.