By chance, I found myself at an overpriced, over-branded coffee shop located in a big box store. You know the shop, undoubtedly--it rhymes with... well, um, a word I don't use much for fear of the soap my mama used to wash my mouth out with. That shop.
I don't much fancy their coffee--once you get used to buying it locally roasted, the watered-down stuff that coffee shop likes to pass off as coffee doesn't taste like much. Besides that, my morning cuppa aside, I've not been much for the coffee lately. That left tea as an option.
What I ended up ordering was what they grandly dubbed a "black tea latte." Whatever. It was basically tea with a bit of sugar to cut the bitterness and some milk. It was wonderful. It was sheer nostalgia.
Tea has always been a key fixture in our house. My mom would make us all tea on the weekends; mine was generally more milk than tea when I was younger, with a lot of sugar and some hot water to dilute it further still. Sometimes Mom would add a bit of cardamon to the pot, other times fresh mint. The tea was the constant, though. As I got older, the water decreased, but I still drank it with milk. And a lot of sugar.
Finally, when I decided I was Grown Up and wanted it without milk, I wheedled for plain black tea, and I got it. In time, the three teaspoons of sugar winnowed down to one spoon, still black. I still prefer it black.
But today, with that bit of milk in it? Pleasant memories made the tea all that much richer.
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Now playing: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Another Day Full Of Dread
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2 comments:
Oh, I love pieces about hot beverages. Really! I'm not crazy about rememberances about food, but there is something about tea and coffee and cocoa that is wonderful to write and read about.
I'm not much for food pieces, and I'm not generally one to wax nostalgic about the stuff, either. But you're right--hot beverages are something else entirely.
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