Hot Tea

Ever since my best friend (who, by the way, turned 30 yesterday....eight months and 17 days before me, and I think its caused a mid-life crisis of sorts) introduced me to hot tea with milk and sugar (the British way), I've been hooked.  I love hot drinks. And I like saying "hot tea" in a Mrs. Doubtfire-type fake British accent.  I was in Heaven when we went to Ireland for a week where they drink LOADS of hot tea, with sugar cubes and cream or milk at every meal.

I am a coffee snob.  I think that is the one single thing I can say I do not like about summer is that its too hot to have hot drinks.  I dont mind 90 degrees, hazy, hot and humid.  But I do miss being able to drink coffee at 3 in the afternoon.  However, THAT is a sacrifice I am definately willing to make for summer!

I love how many different flavors and roasts and varities of hot drinks you can make or buy.  I do not prefer the icky sugary ones though, I like to taste my coffee or tea.  What's the point in drinking it if all you can taste is sickly sweet sugar??  I am also glad that coffee and tea both have been shown to have positive health effects, including but not limited to tea being loaded with anti-oxidants and coffee lowering your risk of altzheimers.  To maximize those health benefits, definately stay away from the sugary drinks, and choose caffeine free coffees or teas.

I am sorry to report that in addition to the sugary fake latte type drinks, there is one kind of tea I discovered that I'm not exactly fond of.  I will drink it, but I will not proclaim to like it, and that is rooibos tea (sold as Rooibos red tea usually).  Its made from a different kind of plant than the usually run-of-the mill orange peoke black tea you find in Lipton tea bags.  The rooibos tea, to me, smells like a combination of Red Man Chewing tobacco and pipe tobacco.  It has a taste similar to its smell.  I cannot get past that.  How, you ask me, do I know what tobacco tastes like? Well, lets just say that being raised on a farm and spending a greater part of my college years running around with a bunch of "cowboys", I know what tobacco both tastes and smells like.  Not something I'm exactly proud of, but I've got nothing to hide. This tea falls into the same category for me as lamb - to me it tastes like it smells and it smells like something I"m not fond of!  I think I'll pass on it next time.