Fancy a Cuppa?

There are many drinks in the world that I enjoy ingesting. A nice, small scotch. Glass of red wine. Some sodas. Hot cocoa. Even the occasional cup of coffee. But none of them compare to my favorite beverage of all, my near constant companion in life: a cup of tea.

When I’m at home, I almost always have a cup of tea handy. Morning, midday, afternoon, evening, night, it doesn’t matter! (Unless I’m sleeping, in which case I try to avoid drinking alltogether). I drink tea while reading, while writing, while watching TV. I drink tea while playing computer games, while doing crafts, while Skyping. If I have guests over, I drink tea while socializing. Really, the only time when I consistently don’t drink tea at home (apart from when I’m sleeping) is when I’m having a bath. I occasionally drink tea on my commute, but not very often because I have a tendency to spill on myself.

At work, I drink tea a little less than at home, but I still refill my cup every two hours or so. The main cause for the less intensive tea-drinking is that my office is stocked with Lipton teabags which are, frankly, kind of dull. I’m not a tea snob by any means, and I’m not one of those people who have steeping down to a delicate science, but I do prefer a nice loose leaf tea over a teabag. The only teabags I really buy for the house are certain herbal infusions.

I drink my tea plain: no milk, no sugar. I used to use milk, but I haven’t for years. I’m not sure why I ever did as I don’t recall finding the taste of plain tea unpleasant at any point. Sugar in tea, I just plain don’t like. A dash of honey, however, is something I appreciate when I have a sore throat or when it’s very cold outside.

I also have a fondness for teacups. Or rather, I think I end up associating the teacups that I use a lot quite strongly with feelings, places and memories. When I visit my parents, I still usually drink tea from the cup I used every day as a teen and in my early twenties.

My cups. The one on the left is my main teacup. It’s enormous and gorgeous. I bought it when I moved out of my parents place into my current apartment, and I think I’d probably cry if it broke. I love that cup. It also makes me feel sort of like a hobbit because of it’s so big. My mom gave me the green cup last Christmas. It’s lovely, so I want to use it, but it just can’t compete with the turquoise one. I’ve ended up using the green one for teabags, which I don’t drink quite as often, and the turquoise for loose leaf. I bought the pink cup when I got my first contract at my current workplace. It mostly gets to hang out with dull Lipton teabags but it’s gorgeous and I love it.

All right, enough babbling for today. Time for another cuppa!