In adulthood, I learned not to even try and order tea in a restaurant. A diner might provide passable tea bags and a two cup stainless pot with fairly hot water, although it sometimes tasted of coffee. Chinese restaurants would usually produce a decent oolong in a pot. Other than that, I was simply ordering up disappointment.
Coffee I could never abide, and believe me, not for lack of trying. In Basic, as the only source of caffeine, or at least not sugary fluid, I once downed a half cup, and could no go further. Not sure why it gags me, perhaps because to me it smells of wet dog. My father would pour hot (instant) coffee over shredded wheat, and that had a stank to fill a house.
Coffee is always on offer in this country.
At the day surgery in Boston, there was a kettle on and a stash of tea bags of dubious age, but it was something, and I appreciated it. Usually, though, at work, there was no tea, nor a way to brew it, however low my expectations. At the hospital where I worked longest, there was a soda machine, which was not good for me. I tried to bring an immersion heater and my own stash, but it took longer than I was comfortable with during not long enough lunches. Never really worked well enough to balance the effort.
Where I work now, the coffee maker has a hot water spigot, which although not boiling, is plenty for oolong, which I supply, and a place for me to keep a ceramic mug. A month ago, our office manager stocked one cupboard full of various teas. Mostly the fruity and flowery tisanes, but also a passable black tea, and the spiced chai is not bad.
Yeah, not what I keep at home, but I'm being provided with a realistic version of my lovely beverage of choice, two in fact, by my workplace. A small gift that I'm very grateful for.
6 comments:
coffee was one of the disappointments of my young age - smelled so lovely, tasted meh. i've since made my peace with it, but i still joke that coffee is just a vehicle for drinking hot milk in a way that is respectable for an adult.
tea in restaurants is a travesty. i have even found that some people have adopted the dubious "elegance" of serving tea to their guests with the tea bag placed on the saucer, ensuring cold water and weak tea. ugh.
was charmed when i spent a few days in london that there was a kettle in my hotel room, and that the breakfast room brought me, a solitary traveller, a teapot as large as that brought to the tables with couples. the tiny little metal teapots served in north american restaurants are a joke.
worst cups of tea i was ever served - cold water in a mug, teabag dropped in, whole thing microwaved. vile beyond words.
gimme a big mug of hot tea and i begin to understand how the british took on the world!
pc,
Stop by, and I'll brew up some Red Label, loose. Or some large leaf Chinese, white or red. Or Lapsang Souchong, Pu-er, or just some TJ bog standard bags, that are actually pretty nice. (I think they are store branded Barry's)
I don't keep sugar, but could get some, likewise cream, although we have milk. You can choose any mug that strikes your fancy.
I do not generally drink warm drinks.
Raised on tea, of course, mostly milk and plenty of sugar, first time I remember really loving it was the summer I learned to swim, spending much of my days on holiday in Cornwall in the sea, and a tray brought down from the beach café late in the afternoon with a big white pot and thick cups, nothing ever tasted so good. Weaned off sugar as a student when no one ever bought it, and hate the taste of it in it now, though began to edge back towards it during a thin time when I took to putting a slosh of whisky in strong tea with some sugar.
Now Continental tea-loving friends (French, German, Dutch) rather sneer at our PG tips tea-bags habit (though we almost always use a pot, Barry's is good too, but PG is habitual), preferring as they do posh leaf tea carefully brewed. But I have gone as far native that I can quite enjoy lighter teas without milk rather than have them ruined by UHT half-cream milk.
Can't be doing with the green stuff, or the French rubbish flavoured with abominations such as vanilla and caramel. I've a theory that when something's your national drink you like it straight and strong, not buggered about with; you won't get any of your spiced gingerbread hazelnut mocha lattes, or even a cappuccino when it comes to coffee here, large or small, and if you want it white you have to specify crème, that's all the choice you normally get.
I grew up drinking gumboot tea (NZ term; equivalent is 'builder's tea' in Britain), but some years ago discovered a source of excellent teas and have been enthralled ever since. I still enjoy gumboot tea, although I only drink it now when friends offer it.
Polish chick's observation about coffee is spot on. I've never had a coffee that tastes as good as it smells and, yes, hot milk for adults is so true. The coffee snobs love to disparage South American cafe con leche but I liked it and didn't feel obliged to think it was supposed to taste like coffee.
I drink coffee in town because the 'tea' is generally so vile (PC got that right, too).
Phil,
I rarely drink cold ones.
Lucy,
I am not fond of flowery or flavored teas either. Ok, I consider them an abomination. Unless I'm treating a sore throat or an upset tum, chamomile or mint, that's not for flavor. I've had tasty green, but it's rare, not something I keep. I've seen PG, but not commonly. Red Label, Yellow Label and Taj Mahal are available at the Indian grocery or the Southeast Asian market. Got Barry's in Boston easily, which is how I know the Trader Joe version is much the same.
Pete,
Yeah, gumboot, black tea, that's the day to day stuff. I do spoon in cardamom to the loose for the aroma. Just a pinch, mind. But then, I get the tea bricks from the asian market at christmas, and brew it slowly, and several times over.
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