Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Stuff #5: Teas and Tisanes

I've been physically feeling pretty lousy the past couple days.  It's a bunch of little things put together.  One, I've been sleeping terribly.  Two, my nose has decided it really doesn't like pollen, and the only solution to this is to run like crazy and sneeze a whole lot.  Three, I'm probably dehydrated, but I'm working on that. Anyway, long story short, my body is saying owie, and you know what makes it better?

Tea.

My "Feel Better Now" tea has always been peppermint with some honey.  Though recently a friend introduced a lovely jasmine tisane into my repertoire, which has been doing the job the past couple days.  A black tea with some chocolate or caramel flavoring always hits the sweet spot, especially with some brown sugar. I love white tea's delicate flavor, which goes so great with fruit.  Green tea, when prepared right, is heavenly for a sore throat, and is also apparently quite healthy.  Then there's rooibos, red tea, oolong, and of course, the whole mix of tisanes.  Mmm...

When I was a kid, I thought I liked peppermint tea.  My mother informed me that no, I didn't like tea, I liked peppermint flavored honey.  Since then, I've learned that even without the honey, it still wasn't tea.  Apparently, there actually is a tea plant, and all the other stuff that comes in bags and gets steeped in hot water is called a tisane.  Well, what with the bags and the water, I like them both. 

My tea drinking really took off when I asked for tea one year for Christmas.  People gave me tea.  In the end, I got enough tea to make over a hundred cups.  Awesome.  That one Christmas introduced me to many different kinds of teas, and I started to learn about the differences between them.  Wait, the reason my green tea was bitter was because I was only supposed to steep it for a minute, and I'd been leaving the bag in?  OH!

More recently, I've discovered loose leaf teas.  My kitchen now comes complete with all sorts of wire mesh gadgets for catching tea leaves.  I love the flavor, but I also love how they look. Most loose leaf teas are quite beautiful, in addition to being tasty as all get out.

I've found myself becoming a tea evangelist.  "Welcome to my house, would you like some tea?  Here, smell this, isn't it wonderful?"  It's worked out in my favor, as a few of these friends have come back and said, "Hey, look what I've found, smell this!  Isn't it great!  Mind if we try some?"

Of course I don't mind.  I love tea.

No comments:

Post a Comment