My Cup Of Tea

An old love affair has been rekindled.

Ah, the joys of drinking tea...rediscovered.



Growing up in a household virtually devoid of caffeine (bar the occasional root beer, cola or Sarsi during festivities), I didn't begin to drink tea regularly till I was much older. Tea quickly became my new favourite beverage. I love both its taste and after taste; I like it thick and black, slightly bitter, and hot. Of course, I also like what it does to my spirits - one cup and I'm living up to my potential. I could do a million things, I write better, I articulate better. That, as we very well know, is caffeine-driven!

I have tried a variety of tea brands, and so far Tazo has been a sentimental favourite. I remember my first days in Sarawak General Hospital, when my husband and I were housed temporarily in one of the empty rooms in the specialist clinic complex while waiting for the actual quarters to be vacated. Those were such cold days in every sense of the word. The air-conditioning was on 24-7, and I would be reduced to a cyanosed, shivering mess trying to get an express shower at midnight after returning from my "tagging" duty. My only material comfort was my Tazo tea. For that I think I have Wyeth to thank. To promote their antibiotic Tazocin, they gave away Tazo tea bags with their drug papers. What a clever marketing gimmick! My darling hubby had collected an impressive 6-8 sachets from his colleagues because he knew I loved tea. I was wary and slightly confused at first ("you sure this tea doesn't contain any Tazobactam?"), but Tazo had me at first sip.


Over the years I had come into contact with some mediocre tea; you know, those shamelessly watered down, diluted imposters. And the lure of coffee was strong. Even if coffee proved too strong for me initially - giving me palpitations, headaches, and insomnias - I soon crossed over to the dark side. Pretty soon I was downing something like 3 cups a day (which is to be considered massive given my small frame), and I realised I was more dehydrated, edgy, and thoroughly exhausted at the end of the day. One of my resolutions for the year had been to cut down on my coffee intake. First quarter review : partially successful. Will work harder on that.

So how did I rediscover tea? I was at a conference recently and expecting to be fed the usual inferior quality brown beverages passing off as tea/coffee during the multiple tea breaks. But this particular hotel of the many many 5-star hotels I know had this charming little booth where tea bags were displayed and we could have our own pick. Fine tea all, measured in bag per cup, not in parts tea per million. My cup of tea, precisely. So there I was, one tea break after another, trying a different flavour each time, quietly but rapturously sipping my tea in the corner. Ah, the simple pleasures.

For now, I'm sticking with tea. The perfect cuppa? Tazo Awake, an English Breakfast blend, of course.

*Tazo says it best : Before the advent of Tazo Awake, most of humanity lived in a kind of dazed, dreamlike state where nothing much got accomplished on a regular basis. This made organising things like the Internet pretty much unthinkable.
Tazo is available at Starbucks.