National Tea Day!

Let’s be clear: I love tea.

Not like, “oh, I could have a cup maybe” or “yeah, sometimes I like to drink tea”.

More like, “uh-oh, I’m down to only 2 kinds of loose-leaf tea” or “how much sweet tea can I fit in my glass at dinner?”

I didn’t grow up drinking much tea as a kid; it was always just the default drink that my parents and grandparents enjoyed at meals. I think I mentally put it in the same category as coffee: it was something older people drank.

My first cup of tea was on an airplane. We were flying from Taiwan to Los Angeles (we lived in Indonesia at the time), and it was time for breakfast on EVA Airlines. A flight attendant politely asked if I wanted tea or coffee with my breakfast. I was only 13 years old, and pretty certain I did not like coffee but also very certain that I would need some kind of caffeine if I wanted to survive the remaining 7 or 8 hours of my trip, so I asked for tea. The attendant smiled and nodded at me while she poured a big cup of hot tea. Then she asked if I wanted milk or sugar with it and I honestly had no idea. So she smiled at me again and handed me a little container. “Try this,” she said before she walked off.

She had given me a little jar of honey. So I did what she told me and put a spoonful of honey in my tea, stirred, and tasted. It was glorious. It was warm and sweet and delicious. I was sold.

And while I still love a good cup of hot black tea with honey, and would usually rather drink sweet tea than almost anything else, I am expanding my palette. It used to mean I had to find a coffee shop that would periodically sell specialty teas. Now there are stores that sell tea blends that you can brew at home, which means I can make fancy tea anytime I want it. While I haven’t quite gotten on the green tea band wagon (yeah, yeah, it’s super healthy, blah blah blah – but I don’t like the taste of it), I have found all sorts of other teas – oolong, white, herbal, black, and chai. One particular store I love – Teavana – will mix flavors of any tea you like to create an unlimited number of combinations – right now I’m drinking a kiwi-berry/papaya white tea blend!

So, as it is National Tea Day, I encourage everyone to grab a cup of whatever tea they prefer, get your current book, and enjoy a nice afternoon! Who’s with me? I’m sure my kids can take care of themselves while I try to relax.

And, for the record, I still don’t understand the appeal of coffee. I mean, how long does it take to acquire a taste for that stuff anyway?