"Something to drink if you can't drink liquor"

Tiny keeps her eye on the lower forty this morning from her vantage point atop the woodpile.

Tea has never been our cup of tea, so to speak. Coffee was the salt in our stew. But we started drinking tea about a week ago after our British blogfriend, inveterate tea drinker Peter McGrath of The Beagle Project, intrigued us with a brief email message and link to a BBC article touting the health benefits of the liquid refreshment derived from the leaves of Camelia sinensis:

Tea: better for you than water:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5281046.stm

Not that we were unaware that tea was supposed to be good for you, but until our cold-turkey epiphany two weeks back, we hadn't given it much thought.

"Camellia sinensis is the tea plant, the plant species whose leaves and leaf buds are used to produce tea," says Wikipedia. "White tea, green tea, oolong and black tea are all harvested from this species but are processed differently to attain different levels of oxidation." Black -- the one we're currently drinking because we happened to have some Twinings Earl Grey on hand -- "comes from leaves that have been fermented before being heated and dried." Botanical drawing from Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem Texte (1887)

"Tea is the most important non-alcoholic beverage in the world," according to the Plant Cultures website, which also seems to be carrying water for government interference in markets via something called "fairtrade." But back to non-alcoholic beverages. A snippet of an imail conversation this afternoon about the drinking of tea:

We:  As I said earlier to Tuck, who happened to be puffing on a pipe at the time, "Tea drinking is sort of like smoking a pipe. It gives you something to do."

She: That's the secret of tea. Something to drink if you can't drink liquor.

We: I never knew until I went cold turkey.

In the spirit of her brother's earlier portrayal,Tiny gives her interpretation of the "Greatest Lion," Aslan.

As soon as we finish that Earl Gray, we're going to try Beagleman Peter McGrath's favorite brew, Yorkshire Tea. As Yorkshire fan Melissa McMinn of North Yorkshire says in comments at the site, "Yes - it’s the best! No other tea rivals Yorkshire Tea!!! I honestly don’t think I could live without it." Available online here.

Update: Pajamas Media links with "Something for the cold turkey community."

Update II: If animals of every stripe are your cuppa, head on over to Friday Ark #142 at Modulator and the 168th Carnival of the Cats  at The Scratching Post, where KT,  the Feline Theocracy's Maximum Leader, has "an important public service message" for the staff:

Have you ever had to do the laundry and change the sheets, but found the cat lying on the bed? Today we will show you how to remove the sheets without disturbing the cat.

Don't miss it!

Comments

[Laura Lee Donoho]

Ah, yes. Tea is the absolute best for whatever ails you. I've always been a fan of tea. Everyday after school when I was in high school I would come home to a cup of tea and vanilla wafers, a very simple pleasure, but my friends found out and gave me a new nickname, Lauratealeaf.

I enjoyed ordering tea when overseas. They always make a nice ceremony of it with little tea things, sugar, cream and lemon.

[Goomp]

I have a hunch tea may also have an economic advantage over alcohol even if one has to occasionally throw out unused tea because age has lessened its flavor.

[Teresa]

I love tea. My father (being of Irish extraction) I grew up drinking tea as a child. It's the main reason I never liked coffee much at all.

My favorites are Darjeeling which is my preferred hot tea (English Breakfast is a good second). And Orange Pekoe to make iced tea is just wonderful - it's very strong, so it holds up well to ice cubes melting. *grin*

I find that tea is a wonderful thing to soothe nerves (which seems silly, but appears to be true) and I have also noticed that it aids digestion. If I don't drink any tea for a while, I tend to get minor bouts of heartburn after eating some foods. That never happens when I am drinking tea.

I have a Bodum 4 cup tea pot for loose tea and I order my tea online. If you want the info on that - let me know.

Happy tea drinking!!!

[Sissy Willis]

The tea drinkers are coming out of the woodwork. Fun to find oneself part of yet another secret society.

Lauratealeaf: Sounds like an Indian -- Native American? -- princess.

Teresa: Your tea lore is most welcome. Please do send it along at once.

Goomp: I'm gloating at how much money I'm suddenly "saving" by switching from the grain to the leaf. :-)

[Laura Lee Donoho]

While walking through Dillards recently I heard someone shout, "Tealeaf!" It was my old friend, Debbie. I hadn't seen her for many years and yet she called me by the nickname which she had given me. It's great meeting up with an old friend who is not only happier than she was during our teens but is still just as beautiful as she always was, if not more. I love coffee too but if you look into my pantry there is a shelf devoted to tea only.

[pam]

Growing up in the south, tea was considered the 'house wine', so you struck a chord.

I order from Adagio[dot]com, if you are looking for additional resources. Their peppermint, while not strictly tea, is the best I've ever had, and their blacks aren't shoddy, either. ;)

[Rowina Dequina]

I've only recently become an English tea convert myself, thanks to my Scouse neighbors. I've been teetotaling for over two years, and now I've finally got the tea!

[Cho Yung Tea]

Great article. I have adverse reactions to alchohol and have switched to tea... and love it.. thanks