Because I am no longer getting my system wired with copious amounts of caffeine, my body (mainly the part above the neck) has been on "Pause" mode for a month.
The first week after I stopped drinking coffee I had a pounding headache, which diminished only with a continuous knock on the forehead with my cordless phone. It is now held together with a goey remnant of Neosporin & Mickey Mouse Band-Aid. What didn't work for the bruised temple, is sure working well for the eroded earpiece.
A failed rendezvous with hot cocoa, on flash-snow days like today, I grudgingly sought refuge in the warm comfort of steeped tea leaves.
Whether you know how to roll perfectly round chappatis which fluff up like balloons, not knowing how to brew a good cup of tea has been my saddling curse. Weak as a kitten, my tea is usually drained in the gullet of the In-Sink-Erator. If I recollect and take out the tea bag half an hour later, the tea is only fit for soaking Parle-G biscuits or tea rusks till they sink at the bottom of the cup and I end up 'eating' the bitter-sweet mush with a spoon.
During a trip to Iraq with my mom a decade ago, we'd spend the afternoons walking through the ruins of the freshly bombed town square, following our noses to seek the sweet enticing aroma of freshly brewed tea (she was a tea aficionado). Served in delicate cups the size of a shot glass, their sweet and minty black tea is not scorching hot; you find yourself sipping a warm dessert, sitting in the desert (see what I did there ;-))
On a rain-drenched spring evening of Portland, I savored a similar brew at Dar Essalam a Mediterranean restaurant which serves Indian-like spicy meats accompanied with Moroccan Hot Mint Tea served in a filagreed silver pot and matching cups.
Recollecting the notes of flavor, I gathered the raw materials:
- Loose tea leaves
- Orange Blossom Water
- Fresh Mint Leaves from my potted plant (they are floating in the water)
- IngenuiTEA which I have used until recently for Cold Brewing Coffee
- 2 sachets of sugar (American sugar is less sweet than Indian sugar)
- Nuked water
Everything went in the IngenuiTEA and poured out 5 minutes later.
Verdict? I finished drinking it all even before I finished typing the words 'tea leaves' the first time in this post, and I finished typing the entire post in one-sitting, which usually takes me 2-3 days to complete.
Got any tips to improve my tea nirvana?
The first week after I stopped drinking coffee I had a pounding headache, which diminished only with a continuous knock on the forehead with my cordless phone. It is now held together with a goey remnant of Neosporin & Mickey Mouse Band-Aid. What didn't work for the bruised temple, is sure working well for the eroded earpiece.
A failed rendezvous with hot cocoa, on flash-snow days like today, I grudgingly sought refuge in the warm comfort of steeped tea leaves.
Whether you know how to roll perfectly round chappatis which fluff up like balloons, not knowing how to brew a good cup of tea has been my saddling curse. Weak as a kitten, my tea is usually drained in the gullet of the In-Sink-Erator. If I recollect and take out the tea bag half an hour later, the tea is only fit for soaking Parle-G biscuits or tea rusks till they sink at the bottom of the cup and I end up 'eating' the bitter-sweet mush with a spoon.
During a trip to Iraq with my mom a decade ago, we'd spend the afternoons walking through the ruins of the freshly bombed town square, following our noses to seek the sweet enticing aroma of freshly brewed tea (she was a tea aficionado). Served in delicate cups the size of a shot glass, their sweet and minty black tea is not scorching hot; you find yourself sipping a warm dessert, sitting in the desert (see what I did there ;-))
On a rain-drenched spring evening of Portland, I savored a similar brew at Dar Essalam a Mediterranean restaurant which serves Indian-like spicy meats accompanied with Moroccan Hot Mint Tea served in a filagreed silver pot and matching cups.
Recollecting the notes of flavor, I gathered the raw materials:
- Orange Blossom Water
- Fresh Mint Leaves from my potted plant (they are floating in the water)
- IngenuiTEA which I have used until recently for Cold Brewing Coffee
- 2 sachets of sugar (American sugar is less sweet than Indian sugar)
- Nuked water
Everything went in the IngenuiTEA and poured out 5 minutes later.
Verdict? I finished drinking it all even before I finished typing the words 'tea leaves' the first time in this post, and I finished typing the entire post in one-sitting, which usually takes me 2-3 days to complete.
Got any tips to improve my tea nirvana?
