I’ve never liked coffee. Tea is my favorite drink and Darjeeling tea my favorite tea. Every morning without fail I make a cup or two of Darjeeling tea.
My favorite drink
When I was a child my mother would give me a bit of very weak Lipton tea when I was recovering from a stomach flu. She dunked a tea bag in a cup of hot water one or two times and then gave it to me to sip. Sometimes she would add a bit of sugar but rarely. The hot water was barely colored from the dunk or two of the teabag but I loved it. It often soothed my aching tummy. I thought that barely flavored Lipton tea was what tea was supposed to taste like (I still like Lipton tea now and then).
Throughout her life, my mother opted for weak Lipton tea as a hot beverage, never dunking the teabag for more than a few seconds. She also made and kept iced tea in the refrigerator year-round, though it was also somewhat weaker than I liked.
Iced tea was one of my favorite summer beverages, sweetened or plain. My mom made unsweetened iced tea most of the time but my Aunt Irene made the best sweetened iced tea you can imagine. I always liked it when she brought iced tea to family picnics.
When I went to college I tried to drink coffee but simply didn’t like the taste of it. I stuck with good ole Lipton tea when I wanted a hot beverage.
At the age of 20 I went to live with a Greek family in Cyprus for a period of time. Chloe, the mother in the Cypriot family, introduced me to the art of making tea from loose tea leaves in a nice big teapot. (She also taught me to make sweet thick Turkish coffee using an imbriki, but that’s another story.)
Typhoo Tea
Chloe made a pot of British Typhoo tea every morning with tea leaves loose in her large dark brown teapot. The longer the tea sat, the stronger it got. I loved that tea! It was wonderfully strong, dark, and flavorful.
“In Ireland, you go to someone’s house, and she asks you if you want a cup of tea. You say no, thank you, you’re really just fine. She asks if you’re sure. You say of course you’re sure, really, you don’t need a thing. Except they pronounce it ting. You don’t need a ting. Well, she says then, I was going to get myself some anyway, so it would be no trouble. Ah, you say, well, if you were going to get yourself some, I wouldn’t mind a spot of tea, at that, so long as it’s no trouble and I can give you a hand in the kitchen. Then you go through the whole thing all over again until you both end up in the kitchen drinking tea and chatting.
In America, someone asks you if you want a cup of tea, you say no, and then you don’t get any damned tea.
I liked the Irish way better.”
― C.E. Murphy, Urban Shaman
Unlike the family I lived with, I drank my tea black. They added canned sweetened condensed milk to their tea. (Fresh milk was rarely found in Cypriot kitchens though Chloe occasionally picked up a liter of milk for me to have on cereal in the mornings.) Sometimes the children in the family put more condensed milk than tea in their cups. Not being an adventurous eater (or drinker) when I was young, I never tasted the tea with the condensed milk in it. Perhaps I missed something really great. If I had it to do over again, I would try it, just to see what it tastes like. Perhaps I’ll try it soon with my Darjeeling tea just for fun.
I brought a box of Typhoo tea home with me from Cyprus and savored it’s goodness until it was gone. Even though I later found Typhoo tea for sale in one of the local grocery stores here, it never tasted the same as the wonderful tea I had in Cyprus. I’m not sure why.
I’ve tried many different black teas over the years, looking for something that reminds me of the wonderful tea I had in Cyprus. Luckily I stumbled upon Darjeeling tea and fell in love with it.
I have settled on Darjeeling as my favorite tea. Occasionally I’ll have a cup of green tea or herbal tea, but mostly I stick with my cuppa Darjeeling. It’s on my list of things I would not want to live without (along with family, friends, and a bit of dark chocolate now and then).
What’s on your list of things you could not live without?
May you walk in beauty.
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