The Magic of the Leaves

I am one of those rare people who drinks hardly any coffee. Some years I don’t have a single cup. Last year I had two flavoured coffees just to see what they were like and decided I wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about! I will only drink tea, but of virtually every type.

In tthe morning I will have a tea in my Hufflepuff mug. Either a Twinings Everyday or a Thompson’s Irish Breakfast hit the spot for that first drink. I will have a couple of those along with an Earl Grey just to change things up a bit. These morning teas are my way of coming to my senses, such as they are, in order to meet the day! Once I get to my third cup I will stop there and move on to a range of different teas. Spiced Ginger, Camomile, Peppermint and Lemon and Ginger are my regular choices during the week. I will swap them around depending on how I am, with the ginger based teas excellent for a sore throat or a bad cold, the peppermint good for an unsettled stomach and the camomile excellent if I need help relaxing. Although they have small amounts of caffeine they don’t have the same impact as my morning teas, and too much caffeine is really bad for you. At the weekend, if Janet and I are at home I will often do a pot of green tea, invariably the Shizuoka Green Tea that we get from the Japan Centre in London, with a spoonful and a half of loose tea which makes very strong tea to start and nicely mild tea after you have had three brews with it.

Of a late afternoon or evening I go back to the black tea but the decaffeinated version of either traditional tea or Earl Grey. Then, my last drink is a Celestial Seasonings Sleepy Time. It is a camomile based drink that we have had for about 25 years or more as the perfect bedtime drink.

As tea in all its forms is so central to my life I pay more for it than I would otherwise do. However, I always look for special offers and the best prices because there is no point in paying more than you have to. So, give me the leaf over the bean any day!