Oh. Oh dear. Tea. Tea!
Tea and I have a...complicated relationship. On one hand, some of my finest moments have been shared over a cup of tea, be that casual Sunday brunch with dear friends, semi-lucid all-nighter shifts with my fellow crisis supporters, or just blissfully sipping some rose mint tea while admiring the English landscape as I was on my way back to Australia. Made the 24 hour flight in economy a whole lot easier to pass, I can tell you that much.
God I wish I had some of that stuff now...
On the other hand, I'm slowly coming to the realization that my mother's habit of dosing me up on as much tea as she could humanly pour (at all hours) is problematic, to say the least. I recently went cold-turkey off tea and found my body conking-out around the relatively sane hours of midnight, whereas beforehand I'd be feeling bright and perky until about 5 in the morning. Great if you're on a shift and need to stay perky without resorting to more heavy-duty stimulants like coffee or caffeine tablets that can trigger withdrawal symptoms...not so great for just about everything else.
So now I have a hard rule about not taking tea past 3. It's difficult, but good health demands sacrifices of us all.. *sigh*
As for my preferred types (limited to the top 5, for brevity)
1. Longjing/Lung Ching Tea, aka Dragonwell Tea:
Awesome aroma, with just the faintest sweet aftertaste. Well worth it, if you can get the right stuff. The fact that it's a green tea with really low caffeine content is also a plus for me, personally.
2. Rose Mint Tea:
Smells like a rose, and tastes of light nectar, with a bit of mint to give it a bit more kick. The closest thing I've found to heaven in a cup yet.
3. Lemongrass and ginger Tea:
Best cup I've ever had was in a cafe in London, served with a hard biscuit. It was what got me into tea in the first place, actually. Aahh, nostalgia...
4. Earl Grey:
I mean, it's just a great staple.
5. Jasmine:
The smell reminds me of the flowers we used to have at our old home...
