I am a self-confessed tea addict. I think being a student twice and now a nurse, who regularly spends thirteen hours straight on my feet with taking time to catch my breath, is responsible for that. It’s the kind of addiction that’s cool, rather than destructive in the way that most addictions are, and it’s not uncommon for me to have a cup simply because I’m not doing anything for five whole minutes on end.
According to Wikipedia (don’t judge me – it’s handy, ok?), tea is the second most popular beverage consumed on this planet after water, and it’s not hard to see why. Since it’s debut in England in the 17th century, tea has developed from a drink only imbibed by the rich, to today where, fortunately for me, everyone can drink it, regardless of who they are.
Perhaps the popularity of tea is not necessarily about the taste; after all, tastes differ, from liking tea that’s so weak it’s not much more than hot water, to tea so strong it could hold a teaspoon upright. It’s more about the ceremony of tea, almost like a ritual, both making it and drinking it. Making it can be a long, drawn-out process, or a madcap dash through the kitchen. Drinking it can be in any number of places and with any kinds of people; with friends, with family, in a shop, on a settee, with a book, with the cat… The list is endless, and as varied as the people partaking in the drinking thereof.
There’s an endless variety of tea; ordinary tea, decaf, chai, green, oolong… I used to think (and still do) that herbal teas like ‘ginger and mango’ were for people who wouldn’t know what tea was if it spilled itself over them, but apparently those kind of teas are good for people on diets (not me, then) or detoxing (also not me).
Tea plays a big part in stereotypes too. It’s deemed to be a very British thing, like cricket under church spires and red buses driving past Big Ben. It’s also a very Irish thing, where you can sit down and have a yarn and put the world to rights (leprachaurns not featured). I’m sorry to say that, despite being good at a lot of other things, America has yet to get the hang of tea; or maybe the Boston Tea Party was their way of saying that coffee was better.
Whatever you do when you read this post, at least do it with a cuppa. Trust me, it makes everything better.
