On tea

While writing my post yesterday, I realized that I wasn’t being completely fair by describing myself as some sort of international chameleon. After all, I do have certain behaviors and characteristics that are so “me”, that I can’t imagine changing them, no matter how often they amuse or confuse people down here.

Drinking tea would be one of those things. And by tea, I don’t mean “iced tea”, I mean “hot tea”. You know, the kind where you boil water, add a teabag, add a little milk, and then, wait for it, wait for it,…drink it while it is still hot. Yes, I drink tea while it’s still warm, with a touch of milk. In my opinion, nothing is as refreshing, cooling, or soothing as a nice mug of hot tea. In fact, “Shall I boil you some water” is an expression used in our house that indicates that you must be either really tired, incredibly crabby, or in need of some real comfort.

However, I can’t tell you how many times southerners freak out when I tell them I drink hot tea in the morning, as opposed to coffee. Now coffee is as much a staple down here as it is pretty much everywhere else. However, I do have the feeling that of all the places I have lived, the locals here are least open to the idea of someone having a hot beverage besides coffee in the morning. Juice, sure, if you’re a health freak. Milk, well, if you’re over the age of 16, people may look at you funny, but it’s still alright. Coke, hey, anything to wake you up in the morning. But hot tea? No. That is just plain odd.

Southerners appear equally amused by the fact that I much prefer hot tea in the afternoon to “sweet tea”, or a soda, or juice, or water. I can’t tell you how many times people, while opening their third can of something really unhealthy, have told me that drinking too much caffeine will apparently “dry me out”. Hmmm…if that is true, then I should have turned into a prune a long time ago. And whenever I request a cup of “hot tea” in a restaurant, I at times almost feel bad for those waiters who look at me as though the sky has just come crashing down, and then spend a good ten minutes trying to desperately figure out how to meet this request.

But I will not give in. I am standing tall, and for all those tea-drinkers among us, I say: join in on the tea-volution!