Tea

via Bairnsley

My family drinks a lot of tea.  Every morning I drink tea with breakfast.  Every evening when my brother comes home from school, he makes another pot of tea to drink while he does his homework.  When my friends come over, we drink tea.  My little sister occasionally has tea parties with her friends.  Every now and again on the weekends we have actual afternoon tea with scones in front of the kitchen fire. 

            I remember this song from my childhood:

            C-O-F-F-E-E, Coffee’s much stronger than tea

            Young folks should leave it alone

            For it makes them skin and bone

            Better by far to be

            Simply a drinker of tea

            Perhaps this was an influence.  Then again, it could just be the continual tea in the mornings that we’ve had since we were little.  I can tell the difference just by taste of tea that’s been brewed in a cup or brewed in a pot, tea that has milk put in first or milk put in after, tealeaves or tea bags.  It’s gotten to the point where I don’t feel awake unless I’ve had a cup of tea in the mornings…

            I’m not sure if it’s a Kiwi thing or just a British-Commonwealth thing or what, but tea has become the ultimate comfort in our house – or at least what we do whenever there’s a problem.  When I have a bad sailing race, I put the kettle on.  Frightful plane flight?  Tea is the solution.  I’m not even sure it’s the taste… maybe it’s the action of holding the cup, pouring tealeaves into the pot, and sitting by the fire…

            Do you drink tea or coffee or something else?