It's the collision of Daddy and Mom. Daddy taught me my love of coffee. The smell of coffee perking on the table in the pot, a steaming plate of buckwheat pancakes, fried eggs and bacon was his usual. And he'd inevitably end up spilling a bit of the coffee (into the saucer) and I drank it up as a wee one already. He always doctored with half and half and sugar. I did the same until it finally occurred to me at seminary that when you spill the coffee on your hand as you rush to class, it's not sticky if you haven't sugared it. So I began drinking my coffee straight (though even now, now and again I'll give myself a treat of what I still think of as Daddy's coffee). My son-in-law has brought my coffee appreciation to new heights: fresh roasted, fresh ground, good stuff.The tea was all from my mother's side. Her Aunt Annie always told her that after a nice cup of tea the problems you face always seem not as big as before. My mother's idea of tea was a mug run under hot water with a tea bag plopped in, followed by three heaping teaspoons of sugar. Yes, you read that right. I did get her to drink tea, steeped in a teapot occasionally, but never persuaded her that it (like coffee) is better without the white death. But the bother of fixing the boiling water, warming the pot, and then steeping the tea, kept me from enjoying it as often as I'd have liked. And then! And then my mother-in-law introduced me to the idea of a special coffee pot you set aside in the kitchen merely to heat up water for tea. PERFECT. Now we keep the thing filled and hot for much of the day - always ready for a nice cuppa. I told Cindi today that I've become inordinately fond of green tea. It's boring sort of, but there is something quite relaxing about it. I love just breathing in its smell, holding the cup, and sipping a bit at a time. My favorite among the black teas are Darjeeling, English Breakfast and Irish Breakfast.
How does this work in a day? Well, the morning is devoted to at least a pot of coffee. Tea is for the afternoon. Then either tea or coffee for after dinner. Caffeine never bothers me. So I'm definitely both a tea and coffee person - and I'd hate to think of life without either one. Which are you? One or the other? Or both? Or - may it never be! - neither?
I am mostly a tea gal, though a cup of good coffee french pressed is a treat now and then. My tea tastes are varied. I like a good green tea for the reasons you describe. But I love the combination of green tea and mint, "Stash Tea" has the best version in my book. I also like Stash's Black Chai, great with milk, no sugar needed. On a cold winter day there's nothing much finer than a good hot cup of tea- black, green, chai, breakfast, or a mix of black with spices and fruit - the secret I think is in the quality of the tea (or the coffee) and the care one takes to brew them well.
ReplyDeleteThere's something quite dignified about a cup of moderately steeped Earl Grey.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree--when the coffee is good, you don't need to add anything to it.
Tea. Tea, tea, tea. Tea.
ReplyDeleteEnglish breakfast, Oolong, Lapsong Souchon, Constant Comment, Earl Grey, Jasmine, Chamomile (not really tea!) mint tea, raspberry tea, almost any kind of tea except that thick, green stuff the Japanese use in their tea ceremonies.
TEA.
The now age-old English solution to the problem of hot water: the electric kettle. I recommend a campaign to get Wal-Mart to start stocking them. Simple yet brilliant.
ReplyDeleteHave you tasted Japanese sencha tea yet? Not boring! It's like drinking velvet. And very good for you.
Ah...but the electric kettles in Europe are a dream compared to what we have in the US. 220V heats up the water faster than one can get out the cup, saucer, tea and whatever one puts in it. Our puny 110V requires more patience!
ReplyDeleteFortunately for me, since I live in the US and have no patience, I am a coffee gal...with a super automatic espresso machine...from Europe! ;)
I rarely drink coffee... and when I do it has to be very dark roast and needs chocolate of some kind.
ReplyDeleteFor the most part, I am a tea drinker, and have been for as long as I can remember. Mostly I drink iced tea, as I lived in Florida for several years... but I enjoy a nice cup of hot tea now and then. To be honest, I prefer warm tea, as I can't handle really hot drinks. My mouth is too sensitive to the heat, and I already run about a degree over normal body temperature anyway, so warm drinks just tend to bug me.
Now, when I make hot tea, my choices are either English or Irish Breakfast tea - preferrably Irish. I like Twinings, but had a good Celestial Seasonings one that came with our new Keurig (my wife got it from her boss for a Christmas gift). When I am sick, I do hot tea with honey. When I am not, I love hot tea (travel mug size) with 2-3 tablespoons of sugar and a good dose of half and half (picked that up on a trip to the UK).
When I make iced tea, I get a 32 ounce insulated mug (the 'Big Gulp' from the local gas station), fill it to the top with ice. Then I use our electric kettle, boil up water, and then place one family sized Luzianne teabag and one Irish Breakfast Tea bag into 2 cups of hot water. Steep for 5 minutes (stirring every minute to keep it from getting bitter) and then squeeze out the teabags. Then I add about 9 packets of Equal, and once its stirred in, I pour it straight over the ice. Deeeeeeelicious!
The insulated cup allows it to last all morning, then after Divine Service at the Hospital, I have lunch and switch to a Dr. Pepper (preferrably the new Cherry version) and Mt. Dew before cutting off my caffine intake for the day. After getting home, it's usually water for me.
Rob+
My mom always used freshly ground beans to make her morning coffee and we all drank it laced with sugar and half and half. Is there anything like the scent of freshly ground beans?
ReplyDeleteLiving in Australia gave me an appreciation for tea and like Father Lyons I also like hot tea with honey or just a bit of lemon and sugar.
Christine
Oh yes, iced tea. Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteTook my English wife and me a couple of horrendous experiences in Indiana before we learned to order "haht tea". Then another couple of attempts before we plucked up the courage (Northern Europeans don't tend to be direct, except with weapons or when drunk) to specify that we would like the tea made with boiling water. I'm confident we single-handedly transformed the tea-making habits of Shipshewana.
Dad was a fan of both, and I liked neither growing up, coffee or tea. Pop, aka soda or soft drink, for me. Dr Pepper, 10, 2 and 4, now diet Cherry or diet Cherry vanilla.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in my mid 20a along with some other life changes I began to drink coffee and like it and am the guy who brings his own carafe to the cubicle! However, during Summer it's usually only during work hours. No fancy stuff, straight up Folgers, strong and black, what my Dad called "railroad" coffee like his dad drank (he was a switchman in southern Illinois). However I do enjoy the coffee/milk half and half that was commonly served in Mother England when I was there.
Despite which, I have never cared for tea. Except in the context of Chinese food, which I love. Tea all the way then! And, while it is a purist tendency that may seem way out of character with the "Oh whatever it's all OK" placid Past Elder known throughout the Lutheran blogosphere, I will not eat Asian food with Western utensils, consider using a metal shovel (fork) to eat such magnificent food the height of miserable revisionism and wannabeism, and insist on "chopsticks" so as not to spoil the taste with the taste of metal. Along with the tea.
Enjoyed the post, Bill. Now, down in New Orleans we add a little chicory to our coffee. Mmmm, mmmm. I'm currently enjoying a cup of "French Market Coffee and Chicory." I double dare you to go to their website and order a can of their coffee and chicory: www.frenchmarketcoffee.com. Careful, you may fall in love with this stronger, darker, smoothy goodness competing with a hint of chicory bitterness good morning how are you welcome to the day wake up brew! Tea? I've always wanted to give it a try. You've piqued my curiosity.
ReplyDeleteI'm a either or and just pretty much drink what is offered up hot or cold. My unchanging old school dad always used an seasoned aluminum coffee pot. Believe or not he put egg shells in with the coffee grounds and used a strainer. He never perk or dip. I remember drinking the piping hot strong coffee once and it curled my toes.
ReplyDeleteOh, forgot Happy New Year to you and yours! I started reading your blog just a few moths back. Enjoy your down to earth and from from above wisdom.
ReplyDeleteCoffee in the morning for energy.
ReplyDeleteTea in the afternoon for enlightenment.
Then, quite often, more coffee.
50-50 tea and coffee, both with neither cream nor sugar. (Occasionally a splash of lemon in the tea.)
ReplyDeleteI always drink coffee black. I remember the first morning in Providence Rhode Island (after growing up in Nebraska), I went to a diner for breakfast, and the waitress asked whether I wanted my cofffee "regular."
Well, I assumed that "regular" meant "black," so I said "sure."
Instead, I got this muck thick with cream and sugar. I could barely drink it. But since I asked for it "regular," I drank it anyway. But lesson learned. I always specified "black" after that.
What's coffee?
ReplyDeleteLeave it to a Limey... :) Love ya, Doorman!
ReplyDeleteGod bless me sideways, my ancestors leave Suffolk and it takes me three paragraphs to say what Doorman says in two words, and while I'm reaching for a cup of railroad coffee to boot!
ReplyDeleteGood show old man!
The epitome of good coffee is.
ReplyDeleteFresh and well roasted beans.
A burr grinder.
A french press, used precisely.
Once you have coffee made that way, you'll never be satisfied with anything else.
Tea?
I love good strong Irish breakfast tea, with cream and sugar, as all civilized peoples drink good tea.
The epitome of good coffee is, six, seven, maybe eight or nine spoonfuls of Folger's regular grind bought on sale, in a Mr Coffee.
ReplyDelete(OK whiners from the other post, now maybe you'll see how a blogatory buttkicking works!)
But I'll be happy to sit down with tea while eating Chinese food any day, as long as there's "chopsticks" to eat with not a small table shovel aka fork.
PTMcC: "I love good strong Irish breakfast tea, with cream and sugar, as all civilized peoples drink good tea."
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but I would call that sentence a non sequitur!
Terry, I wept when I read your comment.
ReplyDeleteSuper flumina Mr Coffee
ReplyDeleteCoffee in the morning, fresh burr ground bean. Tea in the afternoon in the way of a friend who was raised the child of a missionary in East Africa. Tea spice, milk, and honey.
ReplyDeleteCoffee in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Ocassionally tea, especially if I have a sore throat, then with honey. Always black, both the coffee and the tea. Why ruin a perfectly good cup of coffee or tea with sugar?;-) Also, virtually always made with a drip coffee maker. I am too impatient for a french press, though I have one and have had coffee made in it properly. Always black, and always as strong as possible.
ReplyDeleteRev. Benjamin Pollock, aka the Bibliophile