Time for tea!
My parents always drank tea when I was growing up. My dad drank his black with a teaspoon of sugar. My mother drank her tea milky. I have memories of the sound of my dad carrying mum her cup of tea in the morning, the cup rattling on the saucer as he walked down the hall. I remember the sound of him stirring his sugar into his cup, the teaspoon clanging on the side of his cup. I remember trying it when I was quite young - I found it bitter and stringent.
When I was 13 I got a Saturday morning job for an elderly lady doing her gardening. On the first day working for her she came out and asked me if I liked tea or coffee. I said "Neither" (saying it neether") - she thought I said tea so for the next 5 years that I worked for her I was served a cup of tea. I would always make it milky to get rid of the bitterness and it kind of grew on me but I didn't drink it anywhere else.
When I was in my 20's I started to drink coffee because it seemed grownup and was fashionable with the rise in the cafe culture. I didn't really like the taste so would add copious amounts of sugar to each cup to sweeten it and ended up drinking 3 or 4 cups a day. During this time I had a panic attack and then continued to feel anxious for much of the day with frequent palpitations for weeks afterwards. At the time I had just graduated from university and was starting my new job so thought it was nerves about that and it wasn't until several months in when I felt the beginnings of another panic attack that I made the connection to the coffee. I stopped it then and there and it all went away and I haven't touched it since.
So what could I drink instead? For a long time I drank Milo - a chocolatey malt drink which turns out is really high in sugar and although I didn't drink it often I drank it for far too many years. I tried some herbal teas but found them a bit bitter. Along the way I discovered Earl Grey tea and drank this weak with no added milk and I still enjoy this. I have had Lady Grey become another favourite with its citrus notes and now also drink a green tea flavoured with citrus.
Over the years tea has become evocative of memories and comfort and taking time for me. In the past I bought myself several china teacups and a silver teapot with the aim of taking time out to make tea drinking a special time for me to stop and enjoy the beauty in the ritual of drinking tea. Those cups have never made it out of the cupboard as I have been waiting to "find the time" to do it. Now I need to get on and find time to do it!
Today however it was time to sit and pay bills and organise our money for another month. I decided having a nice cup of tea would make it more enjoyable. I hunted out the gorgeous mug my cousin gave me several Christmases ago with a William Morris pattern that I love. The loose leaf Earl Grey tea was given to me recently by my sister-in-law as it is not a flavour she drinks. I think it is delicious!
When I was 13 I got a Saturday morning job for an elderly lady doing her gardening. On the first day working for her she came out and asked me if I liked tea or coffee. I said "Neither" (saying it neether") - she thought I said tea so for the next 5 years that I worked for her I was served a cup of tea. I would always make it milky to get rid of the bitterness and it kind of grew on me but I didn't drink it anywhere else.
When I was in my 20's I started to drink coffee because it seemed grownup and was fashionable with the rise in the cafe culture. I didn't really like the taste so would add copious amounts of sugar to each cup to sweeten it and ended up drinking 3 or 4 cups a day. During this time I had a panic attack and then continued to feel anxious for much of the day with frequent palpitations for weeks afterwards. At the time I had just graduated from university and was starting my new job so thought it was nerves about that and it wasn't until several months in when I felt the beginnings of another panic attack that I made the connection to the coffee. I stopped it then and there and it all went away and I haven't touched it since.
So what could I drink instead? For a long time I drank Milo - a chocolatey malt drink which turns out is really high in sugar and although I didn't drink it often I drank it for far too many years. I tried some herbal teas but found them a bit bitter. Along the way I discovered Earl Grey tea and drank this weak with no added milk and I still enjoy this. I have had Lady Grey become another favourite with its citrus notes and now also drink a green tea flavoured with citrus.
Over the years tea has become evocative of memories and comfort and taking time for me. In the past I bought myself several china teacups and a silver teapot with the aim of taking time out to make tea drinking a special time for me to stop and enjoy the beauty in the ritual of drinking tea. Those cups have never made it out of the cupboard as I have been waiting to "find the time" to do it. Now I need to get on and find time to do it!
Today however it was time to sit and pay bills and organise our money for another month. I decided having a nice cup of tea would make it more enjoyable. I hunted out the gorgeous mug my cousin gave me several Christmases ago with a William Morris pattern that I love. The loose leaf Earl Grey tea was given to me recently by my sister-in-law as it is not a flavour she drinks. I think it is delicious!
Being a loose leaf tea I had to fish out my tea strainer and before I knew it I had the makings of a really good cup of tea that was enjoyable right from the panning to the making and the drinking. It including enjoying my lovely mug. It was such a small pleasure yet it gave me so much and made a mundane task much more enjoyable. I need to do it this way more often!!
What small ritual can you do for yourself for little or no cost that you can look forward to enhance your daily life? Go looking!
What small ritual can you do for yourself for little or no cost that you can look forward to enhance your daily life? Go looking!
Comments
Post a Comment