Tea, however, is a must. We were brought up with it. My aunt use to make it for us kids with lots of milk and lots of sugar and not too hot.
Now I usually drink it black with sugar. But milk, or cream, does occasionally make an appearance.
I almost (99% of the time) always start my day with a cuppa, usually putting the kettle on as I turn on lights in the kitchen.
A cup always leaves the house with me as I go to work (or for that matter, anywhere), all four seasons.
During cold weather tea is a staple all day. In summer, drinking hot tea ends after a couple cups, with me trading off for ice tea or diet soda later in the day.
My go to tea is PG Tips. Decaf most of the time (it is the only decaf I have found that I can call tea).
Many a morning I trade off a PG Tips for an English or Irish Breakfast tea. Twining's usually.
I have also started using a 'Builder's' tea in the mornings when I am out at the cabin.
Famous naturalist John Muir many times went hiking with nothing put a thermos of tea and bread. Perfect!
I have accepted an Earl Grey as drinkable and will sometimes still have one after having it be the only tea that was brought along on an 18 day Grand Canyon kayak/raft trip.
( I had told the man planning the trip that I did not drink coffee, a staple for outdoor trips, and that I was pretty picky about my tea, I offered to get my own so as not to make it hard on him, but he said no, it was okay and not a problem and that he would get a good tea. He proceeded to buy a big mix of different Earl Grey's thinking that Earl Grey was the brand and not the type. When I want to think about the Grand Canyon trip I make myself a cuppa Earl Grey.)
I like my tea strong, dark and with some sugar. And like I said earlier, sometimes with cream or milk.
I don't like "flavored'" teas; raspberry, Jasmine or any of her cousins.
Oolong is okay if I am having Chinese for dinner, but I still check to see if they have something darker.
A perfect afternoon for me is to sit in the one tea room St Louis has and have a scone, a pot of tea and read a book. (It doesn't happen often enough).
You could, and I am okay with it, call me a tea snob. I am after all a beer and bread snob already, so an accusation of another form of snobbery is okay.
With all that said, it probably is not hard for you to imagine that when we go out for breakfast, while my table mates are ordering coffee, I am the lone tea drinker.
I get it, coffee is a morning ritual for if not most, many Americans. And I also get it that there is different coffees and that everyone has their own preferences.
But at most breakfast type places the coffee making is habit, and the pots are emptied so quickly that most pots are served hot, fresh and often.
But if you order tea you are many times treated like a second class citizen.
Most times I have to send the water back to have it 'nuked' to make, I was going to say hotter, but instead I will say make it hot in the first place.
Although not a coffee drinker, as has been stated, I would assume the best coffee is made with real hot, boiling water.
But many, most?, restaurants don't understand that about tea. The water has to boil. (Most friends are surprised at how hot I can drink my tea, not that I try to prove anything by that fact. Just sayin')
Neither in quality or temperature.
And definitely not in quantity.
Most tea served over here in restaurants is Lipton's, or something real close to a 'Lipton' type tea.
Now, don't get me wrong, if Lipton's is served HOT and allowed to steep the whole time you drink it, it is very drinkable, and much better than some off brands. (Okay, till I found a better, it was my go to tea.)
Occasionally you will get a better tea, but in those cases the water is so tepid that the quality of the tea is lost. It doesn't matter how good your tea is if I can't steep properly.
There are some restaurant chains over here that I won't even bother ordering hot tea in because the chain is universally bad at making hot water (Denny's).
Their are some chains where I know the water will be good and hot but the brand of tea they carry is pretty bad. So in those cases I always bring in a couple bags I always keep stored in my truck. I am okay with supplying my own tea after my Grand Canyon experience and I appreciate the fact that their water is hot.
Another thing. While with most restaurants the coffee cup is bottomless, every time the server passes by they either fill your cup automatically or at least ask if you would like more.
With tea drinkers, at best you will be asked if you would like more tepid water poured on top of your already used tea bag.
Most times you have to ask for more water (nuke it please) and another tea bag.
And you really feel bad if you are enjoying sitting and talking to your wife over a late breakfast and she is on her eighth cup of coffee and you have to ask for a third tea bag.
Supply and demand I guess.
But occasionally you will be surprised.
Having an eleven year old child, over the last couple of years we have gone to a Disney theme park a few times. And once you do that, at least for a little while, you get all kind of mailings from Disney. Being big fans of anything Disney we are for the most part okay with that.
In every issue of one of their bigger magazines they usually talk to someone who helps make the park special. In one issue they talked to one of their head chef's. And he made a very fine point about treating tea drinks as well as drinkers of other beverages. Even going into the best way he believes it should be served. Another reason to love things Disney.
Another surprise I have found is that on rare occasions you will find a good tea in surprising places (it doesn't happen often).
Case in point, Waffle House. Breakfast is my favorite meal to eat out, especially if you have a favorite place to get it. While Waffle House does not fit that bill, I do enjoy their biscuits and gravy, and omelets. So once every couple of weeks, or when I head out early to the cabin, I will stop in at one of three Waffle Houses I have to pass on the way to the cabin (or work).
99% of the time their water is good and hot. And I am also surprised that they use a pretty good brand of tea. At least the ones near me use a brand called Royal Cup, and I have come to look forward to it when I visit a Waffle House near me.
Rare indeed is finding a place with hot water and a good tea.
I will always keep tea bags in my truck. I will order something else at the places that just can't get it right. And I will savor the places that do get it right (The London Tea Room, St Louis and Waffle House).
But please, you may not love us tea drinkers as much, but try to treat us the same.
There . . . . I got that out of my system.
