Friday, March 09, 2007

Because I'm a follower

From Gary, via Mona, this Friday's word is tea.

Tea story the first) I have many different kinds of tea in my tea drawer. I don't drink coffee (WHAT? You live in the Seattle area and don't drink coffee? Is that legal? Are you a communist?)

My tea has magical qualities. When Em is upset about something i always offer to make her a cup of tea. Her response is, "Yes, please. Tea always helps." Even if she won't tell me what the problem is, a cup of tea will be well received.

As a mom, i cannot cure the ills of the teenage world, or any world, but i can make a cup of tea and add honey and milk and cinnamon and ginger and some love and make it all a tiny bit better.


Tea story the second) Every morning i make and consume a large mug of tea. I spend a few moments deciding which tea it will be this morning; Decaf Organic Green Tea? Passion by Tazo? (Oh! the smell!) Loose Leaf Roobios Tea? (has a bit of an unfortunate smell, but tastes great.) Chai?.....

What should i add? Honey? Soy Milk? (Can't do that if it's a fruit tea as it will curdle.) Ginger? Half and Half? (If i am feeling decadent.) Lemon?....

Then i settle back into my bed with a cat, maybe two cats and spend some time sipping my tea and slowing moving my brain from sleep mode to wake mode. I treasure this time.

31 comments:

TTQ said...

The ginger always makes me feel better. I never put milk or half and half, but sometimes lemon and honey and cinnamon. I like the Yogi Teas too. I drink tea at night and coffee in the morning. Coffee is always black with no sugar, just a touch of ice of cool water to make it cool enough to drink right away. Oh and cayeenne pepper if I'm congested, with the ginger and cinnamon lemon and honey..you don't even notice it.

Anonymous said...

I have a whole cupboard of tea. Sadly, I seldom drink it now. I guess my practical side made me switch to coffee when Tony bought that absurdly expensive machine.

My usual is a pot of black tea with skim milk (never half and half) and a little sugar. I love lapsang souchang, chai, mint, lemon.

Special K ~Toni said...

I love tea! I must have 10 different varieties in my pantry! It always makes me feel better!

Girlplustwo said...

mine is with the first cup of coffee, but chani has taught be to do the same daily with green tea.

Anonymous said...

You think you're a pariah, I live in England and don't drink tea. Or coffee. Or beer.

Evil I am.

Lazy

Anonymous said...

ooo...yeah....Passion by Tazo...what a wonderful smell.

Right on, TTQ. I'm living on the Yogi Echinacea tea right now. It's the only thing that makes me feel better with this head cold.

jaded said...

I am first and foremost a coffee drinker. Nothing Fancy, just opaque and black. This state has ruined tea by making it mandatory to serve it with enough sugar to induce a diabetic coma. Did I mention, they put ice in it....as if.

I am all about curling up with a hot cup first thing in the morning on the sofa with Missus Chica. I enjoy tea at late night. The older I get the more coffee prevents me from sleeping (napping for hours during the day couldn't possibly have anything to do with it).

gary rith said...

Ahem, this potter is wondering if an order might ever......no it would be rude to mention that my livelihood is making mugs and teapots. I won't say anything about it at all.
I do ship and I do take paypal.

thailandchani said...

Green tea here.... then later in the day, I have some cold green tea. Sometimes chestnut tea.


Peace,

~Chani

Lynn said...

When I was younger I didn't like tea probably because it was "Lipton's" and also because if my mom offered me tea, it probably meant that I was sick. I loved that my mother "took care of me" but I preferred ginger ale when I was sick. Now, I never drink ginger ale and while I enjoy drinking tea...I always add lots and lots of sugar.

AC said...

I do the coffee in the A.M. but about 3:00 a cup of tea does the trick.

My grandmother always soothed my tears or stomachache with tea and lemon. Is that fresh ginger or ground ginger that you use.

flutter said...

What a lovely tradition. We are tea drinkers in my house, too.

meno said...

ttq, cayenne pepper? I'll have to try that. Thanks.

de, you know, you just don't have time for tea in some phases of your life. Save them for later. Tea need to be savored.

toni, it is magic, isn't it?

jen, green tea with a little soy milk (Trader Joes has an unsweetened organic soy milk). MMmmmm.

lazy, you live! Although as some kind of miscreant tea hater. Are you sure you are English?

nancy, i love Passion with a little honey. Read that sentence out without giggling.

patches, the Mister is a coffee drinker too, and is turning Em into one. So i can respect that. I am so unused to coffee that if i have any after noon, i can't sleep. You must be in the south.

gr, it could happen. Although i usually need to hold a mug in my hand to see if it feels right.

chani, i do drink much green tea too. I'll have to try it cold.

lynn, I sometimes drink Lipton's decaf. Don't tell anyone.

ac, i use ground ginger, unless i happen to have some fresh around. That smell is heaven.

flutter, when i used to spend summer with my grandparents (who were kind of psychotic i realize now) we would all pile in the bed in the morning and drink tea and eat fancy cookies that they had imported from England. They had four HUGE dogs that would all get on the bed with us. I loved it, and could usually beg an extra cookie from my grandfather, for whom the term curmudgeon was invented. I guess tea does mean tradition to me.

Anonymous said...

I make my own flax seed coffee. But it's really more like tea.

Lucia said...

I'm not a coffee drinker either. (It does feel odd not to be, doesn't it? I met a woman math prof in Guate who wasn't either, and we talked about it a bit.)

I'm not much of a tea drinker either...but belief in the wonders of green and rooibos.

Anonymous said...

I used to drink tea all day long, but for some reason have gotten away. since my hysterectomy, I get hot easily, so even coffee is usually limited to a cup or two, then I start on iced tea. I like peach at the moment, sweetened with splenda.

Liv said...

My first passion is espresso, but I am really getting into building my own little tea 'bar' at the studio.

Right now, I am really liking the white teas...especially the new Tazo Berryblossom White. Mmmm... Try the Harney & Sons Mango.

Anonymous said...

Tea IS magic, isn't it?

I don't like coffee, either and I, too, have a tea drawer (the reconstruction of the kitchen allowed for such a wonderful thing). I find that my tea preferences vary wildly with my mood, but I never put anything other than honey or sugar in my tea - I never learned how to like milk or cream in tea, though that's how my husband drinks it...

Anonymous said...

Tea is good. Meno is better.

Joan said...

I'm not a tea drinker (too many bad memories of mom serving tea when we were sick) but your recipe for adding honey, milk, cinnamon and ginger sounds so soothing I think I'll give it a try. Thanks for the hint!

meno said...

d-man, you are the second commenter to mention flax seed coffee. i have never heard of it and will have to investigate further.

lucia, it does make me feel like a bit of an outsider. The response i get is "But..., WHY?"

holly, hot flashes would tend to send me towards iced tea. So far i only have them at night.

liv, thanks for the tip. I'll get some and try it.

mrs.chili, there is no need to try and learn to add milk. I just grew up with it that way.

holly, why hello there. I'm as good as Pomagranite Pzzazz, but not as good as green tea.

joan, it's kind of a bastardization of real chai tea.

Imez said...

Lord I'm last again. WHEN do you write these things? I just wanted to say, I hope I do my retirement with as much gentle pizzazz as you do.

amusing said...

a) do we really believe in white tea; as the ad would have us believe, it's the "baby tea leaf"? Or is it a marketing ploy/line extension and completely fabricated?

b)I always was, and still am, a tea drinker, but the Scots made me start drinking coffee.

SUEB0B said...

I just can't love tea the way I love coffee. I have tried and tried.

meno said...

esereth, look, you are not last. Thank you for the compliment. When you are as lucky as i am to retire early, there is lots of energy for pizzazz.

amusing, a) i would not be surprized if it all an evil marketing ploy. b) you are on your way to the dark side.

suebob, you can't force love baby. It never works.

Anonymous said...

Tea does have mystical, magical qualities. I haven't been able to give up my morning coffee - YET - but I've cut back enormously in favor of tea. Which I drink right up until bedtime, actually.

Mother of Invention said...

I always love how the English think they can solve any problem with a "Cuppa"! And their whole world stops at 4:oo p.m. for tea and scones with jam and Devon Cream!

Mona Buonanotte said...

I think it's about time I introduce the kids to hot tea...we all needs some soothin'....

luckyzmom said...

Gots to have me my coffee with heavy whipping cream in the am. A huge mug.

At other times I enjoy Lipton green tea. I went through a bunch of expensive green teas but found the inexpensive Lipton to be just as good and better than some. Stash chai spice black teas is yum, but Yogi DeTox Tea is like delicious dessert to me. Very good and good for you is to steep the peelings from ginger in boiling water. I just leave the peels in, but you can strain them. I leave my tea bags in too!

Anonymous said...

I love tea and your post made me go get another mugfull. Black tea with sunflower and hibiscus petals.

Susanne said...

Ah, tea, I never drink coffee. Black tea in the morning (Chinese with one cube of brown sugar.), orange tea the rest of the day.

We have two shelves of tea in our house. Sadly our son doesn't really like it yet.