A tea drinker in a coffee world

A tea drinker in a coffee world

I don’t drink coffee. I don’t like the taste of coffee. In today’s world this is almost as bad as announcing that you’ve just joined a terrorist cell. People look at you like you’re un-American. It should not be apple pie and baseball but apple pie and coffee, with a Starbucks on every corner and a Java something or other on every other comer. Not liking coffee is un-American.

Offering a cup of coffee is considered a standard greeting. Anyone asking for tea instead is met with a unbelieving stare. Many businesses still offer free coffee to their customers even in today’s economic climate, and the coffee pot is still kept full with its stack of white foam cups nestled beside it.

In restaurants, a coffee cup is frequently already on the table ready for the arrival of a waitress carrying the fat glass globe of dark liquid. If you ask for tea in these eateries, you are lucky to be provided with a cup of lukewarm water and an off brand tea bag, for which you are charged as much as a designer cup of coffee at one of those fancy corner places. It is amazing how much you are expected to pay for a cup of warm water and a single bag of cheap leaves.

Speaking of the fancy coffee housesL just try ordering a cup of plan tea at one of theses. All they have are teas modified with assorted flavors that have no place in a cup of good tea. I mean really! When would ginger or pomegranate ever get together with a cup of good strong black tea?. And now the trend is towards green tea.

If you’re not into caffeine. just try to get a cup of herb tea. I wish you luck. I carry tea bags in my purse.