An American Kiwi Re-learns the Joys of a Cup of Tea
I had such a weird childhood. Honestly, not only was my maternal family just bizarre, but everything we did in our house was not the norm in everyone else's house. For example: tea. In 60's America, adults drank coffee as their caffinated beverage of choice. At my house, we drank tea; black with or without sugar, and none of that pansy-ass milk or effete lemon crap, either. Even if the inside of your mouth felt like you'd been eating acorns, and your stomach was rolling like an epileptic whore...tough, you didn't ask for milk. I was drinking black tea from the time I can remember, honestly. It was perfectly ordinary for me to have a cup of tea with my morning cereal in first grade. No wonder I was so chatty, I was buzzed on English Breakfast! After I moved out of my maternal grandmother's house when I was sixteen, there was no more hot tea. My stepmother served Lipton instant tea, and it was served over ice. In summer, it was suntea.
Allow me to explain for those who are unfamiliar; Suntea is the product of cold water, tea bags and the heat of the sun. In Arizona, where I grew up, you can make a gallon of tea in less than an hour simply by filling a large glass jar with cold water, dropping in a half a dozen teabags more or less, capping the jar and setting it in a sunny spot. After it's brewed to a nice dark colour, you bring it inside, remove the bags, and let it cool before serving over ice. Once it's at room temperature, any leftover tea can be stored in the fridge for later.
I learned to drink coffee when I was in my early 20's. I was working as a cocktail waitress in a place that closed at 2am. I had a running bet with another waitress that whoever made the least in tips had to pay for breakfast. So after we'd closed up, we would drive to this restaurant on Central and Indian School, (I think) in Phoenix and have breakfast at about 3:30 am. It was there, with Marie, that I learned to like coffee. It was more like an after work relaxation than a morning pick-me-up, and in many ways I still like it best that way...at the end of the day rather than at the beginning. I think that I'll stop with the coffee at this point because, let's just say, I not only liked it, I became an afficianado, a snob, about it even, and I don't want to go there now, because believe it or not, today this blog is about tea.
I moved to New Zealand a bit over seven years ago. It was then that I discovered that my family wasn't quite as weird as I had imagined as a child. Oh don't get me wrong, they were crazy as shithouse rats, but the little stuff that no one else did like drinking tea... that was just British. Turns out, my Grandma wasn't bullshitting about being reared Irish in America. I find that many things that we did traditionally were British, like plum pudding at Xmas, and eating lamb at Easter. No one else I knew as a child ate lamb. No one else ate sauerkraut on New Year's Day, either, but I have no idea where that one came from. So where was I? Oh yeah, TEA...damnit.
Since moving to NZ, I drink tea every day. I'm a pussy now, and I have a bit of milk in mine. I don't have to have a sore tummy if I don't want to. I can afford a splash of milk. Here's the bit that as an American I used to laugh at, but as a Kiwi, I have come to understand: tea is a blessing, a gift from the gods. It calms you down and picks you up at the same time. No wonder the English solve every problem with a cup of tea. It's lovely and hot and it settles the nerves better than a cigarette. I drink it any time of day.
Right now, I have a new favourite: Celestial Seasonings' White Tea. It's just gorgeous! The scent is like hot cream soda, the flavour is similar, but with fruitier undertones. I don't add milk to this one. I'm having a cup of it now, as a matter of fact. It's my after work unwind thing. I was going to bitch about something or another when I got home from work today. Then, I made a cup of this glorious tea. The scent got in my nose and made me feel like I was having a treat, the flavour got in my mouth and it was gooood! Suddenly, I didn't feel so much like bitching. I felt like praising, not just this tea, but tea in general. So, thanks all you lovely Southeast Asian and Indian women, working your slender skilled fingers through the tea fields for my pleasure and pacification. Thanks for bringing me this cup, a simple thing done well. It doesn't get much better than that.
Allow me to explain for those who are unfamiliar; Suntea is the product of cold water, tea bags and the heat of the sun. In Arizona, where I grew up, you can make a gallon of tea in less than an hour simply by filling a large glass jar with cold water, dropping in a half a dozen teabags more or less, capping the jar and setting it in a sunny spot. After it's brewed to a nice dark colour, you bring it inside, remove the bags, and let it cool before serving over ice. Once it's at room temperature, any leftover tea can be stored in the fridge for later.
I learned to drink coffee when I was in my early 20's. I was working as a cocktail waitress in a place that closed at 2am. I had a running bet with another waitress that whoever made the least in tips had to pay for breakfast. So after we'd closed up, we would drive to this restaurant on Central and Indian School, (I think) in Phoenix and have breakfast at about 3:30 am. It was there, with Marie, that I learned to like coffee. It was more like an after work relaxation than a morning pick-me-up, and in many ways I still like it best that way...at the end of the day rather than at the beginning. I think that I'll stop with the coffee at this point because, let's just say, I not only liked it, I became an afficianado, a snob, about it even, and I don't want to go there now, because believe it or not, today this blog is about tea.
I moved to New Zealand a bit over seven years ago. It was then that I discovered that my family wasn't quite as weird as I had imagined as a child. Oh don't get me wrong, they were crazy as shithouse rats, but the little stuff that no one else did like drinking tea... that was just British. Turns out, my Grandma wasn't bullshitting about being reared Irish in America. I find that many things that we did traditionally were British, like plum pudding at Xmas, and eating lamb at Easter. No one else I knew as a child ate lamb. No one else ate sauerkraut on New Year's Day, either, but I have no idea where that one came from. So where was I? Oh yeah, TEA...damnit.
Since moving to NZ, I drink tea every day. I'm a pussy now, and I have a bit of milk in mine. I don't have to have a sore tummy if I don't want to. I can afford a splash of milk. Here's the bit that as an American I used to laugh at, but as a Kiwi, I have come to understand: tea is a blessing, a gift from the gods. It calms you down and picks you up at the same time. No wonder the English solve every problem with a cup of tea. It's lovely and hot and it settles the nerves better than a cigarette. I drink it any time of day.
Right now, I have a new favourite: Celestial Seasonings' White Tea. It's just gorgeous! The scent is like hot cream soda, the flavour is similar, but with fruitier undertones. I don't add milk to this one. I'm having a cup of it now, as a matter of fact. It's my after work unwind thing. I was going to bitch about something or another when I got home from work today. Then, I made a cup of this glorious tea. The scent got in my nose and made me feel like I was having a treat, the flavour got in my mouth and it was gooood! Suddenly, I didn't feel so much like bitching. I felt like praising, not just this tea, but tea in general. So, thanks all you lovely Southeast Asian and Indian women, working your slender skilled fingers through the tea fields for my pleasure and pacification. Thanks for bringing me this cup, a simple thing done well. It doesn't get much better than that.
posted by Tarla @ 4:34 pm
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