I'm a tea drinker. Quite strong, dash of skim milk, no sugar. But today I left out the milk which looked a little old and decided to go black. A little bitter. Towards the end of the mug I looked into this brown liquid and thought..."do I really want to drink this?"
I think I might move to hot water.
Although tea is supposed to have health benefits..

I'm an avid tea drinker. Tea settles my knotted stomach, my hubby-jangled nerves, my frantic self-talking mind and actually seems to infuse a lovely warm serenity into my deepest being (which only lasts while I'm actually drinking it, unfortunately). I've gradually managed to limit myself to three or four cups of black tea (Earl Grey, hot) during the day, and then only green tea (Jasmine) in the evenings. I take a wee bit of milk and sugar as well, even in green tea, although I can take it without milk if I have to.

Why is it so bitter? Maybe it's too strong? Maybe if you're drinking it without milk you could try it just a wee bit weaker? The only time I notice our tea is bitter is when hubby microwaves it (big shudder). I can't drink it that way, it has to be freshly steeped.

Tea, both black and green, does have a lot of health benefits, but green is supposedly the best for digestion, anti-oxidant and other-but-I-can't-remember-what benefits. There are definitely worse things to be drinking.

Julie, do you think hot water would do the same thing for you? Why do you drink tea?

I've never been a tea or coffee drinker, but there are times I wish I drank one or the other just to keep me sitting still for longer periods of time. I'm forever doing. As I get older I'm trying to just "be" more often, and that requires sitting still.

Dotsie, as you read in BTT, I cannot sit still! I've joked before that I thought I had undiagnosed ADD because I have behaviors like a younger brother who was diagnosed ADD, plus my father had ADD. Neither could not sit still. My mother put a tiny rocker in the play pen so that I could rock in a chair instead of rocking, banging my head against the couch! Crazy child! I used to avoid places like movies and church where you are required to sit still for a period of time. I am much better than before, but I couldn't possibly live without a rocking chair. As I write this, I am sitting with a lap top in my leather rocking recliner. So, Dotsie, how do you sit still to write? Now, about tea. Last November, my husband stopped drinking (relaxing) with wine after work and started drinking tea. He also stopped using sugar in his coffee and tea and started using Splender. These two dietary changes alone caused him to lose 15 pounds. I was going to suggest to Julie that she try Splender in her tea. Also, instead of being a wine taster, my husband is becoming a tea connosieur. He says that the standard Bigelow teas are like water compared to the highly evolved teas in specialty shops. I drink tea in my rocking chair with a biscotti to go with! LLL

Julie, I always add raw honey to my green tea (STASH Brand, Chia Green Tea) and sometimes add a little bit of milk...that brand and blend has a really nice flavor with lots of spices to it.

I am not sure if the tea makes me less or more hyper as by nature I am very active and moving constantly unless I am a: reading or b: writing on the boomer boards.

Even "sitting still" to read or write I find that I am never sitting still and am always tapping out some sort of song or rhythm.

I am and have always been an avid conniseur of teas and they come in hundreds of delightful and healthy flavors. My very favorite is one green te bag with one caramel vanilla tea bag steeped together & SPLENDA as sweetener(not Splender)Any tea is bitter if too strong, add more water and don't let it sit too long before you drink it.

I never enjoyed tea until I moved to Nova Scotia in the early 1980's. EVERYONE there drinks tea, and it's akin to a social faux pas not to accept a cup of tea when visiting in somebody's house. So I quickly learned to drink it, even when it had been brewing on the back burner for five hours and you could practically stand a spoon up in it.

Then I met Kate. Kate's originally from England and has been my best friend for the past 30 years. It was Kate who taught me how to make a "proper cup of tea". Now it's akin to an art form, especially in regard to "high tea".

When we went on a Princess cruise a few years ago, the highlight of our day was the 3pm high tea. Now hubby and I do a "low tea" every afternoon at 3. It does force us to sit still for a few moments, something neither one of us was very good at until my breakdown a few years ago. Now we're too good at it! (sitting still, I mean)

Eagle, I was born across the Gulf from Nova Scotia, in Newfoundland. Tea for breakfast, dinner and supper as we call it. "Come on in, I'll put the kettle on and we'll have a cuppa tea." How many times have you heard that? Where in NS were you living. Great friendly people aren't they?

chick

Chickadee, I lived the first couple of years in Halifax, then found a really cheap penthouse apartment in Dartmouth with a panoramic view of the entire Halifax harbour and stayed there for 15 years. (It was cheap because the windows always leaked when it rained, and it rains a lot there, so I always kept a lifejacket handy just in case)

Kate and I were part of a small very close-knit prayer group and we often would pile into a friend's van and drive to Cape Breton for the weekend. One year, we made it our goal to do the Cabot Trail every season that year. Winter was scary, autumn was breathtaking with all the colours of the leaves, summer was hot and crowded with trailors, and spring was the most phenomenal because of all of the eagles. We parked the van on the side of the road, pumped up the tape player which was playing "Sometimes Alleluia", and just sat there on the grass watching the eagles dancing to the music in the sky right above us. It was breathtaking and still gives me goosebumps.

Sigh. Nova Scotia was one of the most beautiful places, both in its rugged natural beauty and the genuine hospitality of the people. They still don't allow Sunday shopping there, not for religious reasons, but because it's so family oriented there and people don't want to give up their Sunday family time.

I'd move back in a flash, but all our family lives here or in Quebec. It's hard to live in such a family-oriented environment when you have no family.

[ May 23, 2005, 09:39 PM: Message edited by: Eagle Heart ]

Nova Scotia sounds like a place I'd love to move to -- family or not ;-) but I'd probably have a hard time dealing with the weather -- since I've never even seen snow -- I'd probably freeze the first week there.

I started drinking coffee last week -- never drank a cup before -- carnations french vanilla creamer in decaf -- talk about teaching old dogs new tricks ;-)

I wonder how that creamer would taste in tea ???