Tea

Tonight, as I sip on my fourth, different, cup of the day, I am thankful for tea.  (Don't worry, I'll still sleep tonight, this one is honeybush which is naturally caffeine free.)

I have come to enjoy tea very much over the last few months.  Don't get me wrong, I've always enjoyed hot tea now and again and my beverage of choice when eating out for the last few years has been unsweetened iced tea.  I've also always enjoyed various herbal teas as well.

But, my brother, after me asking him and Becca for beverage ideas because I was getting sick of just plain water and I have all but given up sodas, pointed me to a wonderful web site... Adagio.  You see, my brother has been enjoying loose leaf teas for quite some time now, and pointed me in this direction.

While I might have enjoyed the occasional hot tea before, I've never been a huge fan.  That's because most of the teas I've had before made me want to put sugar in them, and well, that's why I gave up sodas.  It turns out that I'm much more a green tea kind of girl than a black tea.  I've also discovered honeybush.  I have yet to try the Rooibos that is the honeybush's cousin.

So, this morning to help ease me into my Monday and warm the aching muscles from the inside, I made a wonderful tea late with some Masala Chai tea, some milk and a single packet of sweetener at work.  Later, I enjoyed a cup of citron green when I needed something with more flavor than water, and preferably something a bit warmer.  My third cup at work was by accident.  Yes, I accidentally had another cup of tea.  I was going through my desk drawers and found a box of ginger green.  I remembered that I wasn't too fond of it, but that I didn't hate it.  I opened up a tea bag to investigate it a bit, since I now know a bit more about tea and what I like as far as tea goes.  (Like with wine, I know what I like and I drink it.  I can sometimes throw around a few fancy words, but in general, I drink what I like and :-P to the tea/wine snobs.)  I decided it smelled pretty good, even if the green tea was somewhat unidentifiable since it was teabag grade... and so I made it.  I still don't really like it.  It's actually bitter for a green tea and doesn't taste as nice as the full leaf greens I've been trying.  Therefore the rest of the box got deposited in the break room for others to enjoy.

So, tonight I am sitting here typing and winding down with a nice mug of honeybush.  Yes, I did add a little sugar to this one, but not much, only about a half teaspoon at most..  I think more out of habit than real need to add sugar to this one.

I'm thankful that there is such a wide variety of teas available and that I'm not stuck with bitter, but livable Lipton.  I'm glad that I have found a nice warm (and often naturally caffeine free) beverage to relax with that is not loaded with sugar.  I like the warm comfort that a nice hot mug can give me, and the feel of it in my often cold fingers when I've spent too long typing.  I like the sensory wake-up call that it can give me first thing in the morning when my mind is still a bit fuzzy.  And that's just the hot teas.  I've discovered that many of the herbal teas I enjoy are even better when iced.  And that green or black teas taste very different hot or iced and can be a wonderful change from just plain water.  I mean, I like water, don't get me wrong, but when you regularly drink 4-6 cups a day (i.e. a quart or more) at work, just plain water gets a bit boring from time to time.

Tea has become for me what coffee is to many, but with less (often much less) caffeine.

I am definitely stiff and sore from my exertions yesterday.  I spent a lot of time at work today getting up and wandering around so I actually could get up from my desk at the end of the day.  It was not one of my most productive days, but I can live with that.

I'm off now to finish this beautiful mug of tea and then stand in a hot shower for a bit and curl up with my heating pad.

Peace to you all and may you find something that can warm and comfort you.