Saturday 13 September 2008

Sunday Scribblings, Coffee.


G'Day,
I just looked up the Sunday Scribblings prompt for this week and it is "Coffee"
I had a little look around and was surprised to see that many people have written about Tea versus Coffee. I always had the idea that coffee was the more popular.
Anyway. I am a tea drinker. I used to drink coffee but for some reason now it upsets my digestion and it gives me an acidy sickly stomach. But there is nothing as good as the smell of coffee brewing on the way past a cafe, even though I can't drink it anymore.
Today I went to Floriade which is an annual spring festival here in Canberra. There were flowers and people galore. Stalls with goodies and craft and information about garden related stuff like water conservation and feral plants and animals. I found a stall I visited at Floriade last year that sold tea and coffee from Kenya so I just had to buy a repeat of the lovely Chai latte powder I got last time. I made a cup of it as soon as I got home and sat outside in the perfect spring afternoon to enjoy it. Lovely. It got up to 21 degrees here today. While I was at Floriade I had to buy a hat to protect myself from the first sun burn worthy day of the season.
Anyway back to tea. I love it. I often drink up to 6 cups a day. And I have a funny thing going with my husband Pete to get him to make a cuppa for me. He just grins at me and says " Subtle Lin, like a brick to the back of the head". When I want a cup of tea I pick up whatever cup or container that is closest to me and turn it upside down and shake it while looking at him with one eyebrow cocked. Or I sneakily slip it into the conversation. I usually get away with it, but not always. He he. If he questions me, as he likes to do when he thinks someone is around who might back him up, I tell them that I do the washing, cleaning and cooking so it is his job to make my cups of tea. It is just a game I like to play with him.
The picture here is a selection of my favorite tea things. The tea in the orange boxes are flavored with flowers and fruits and come from my favorite shop here in Canberra. I can never walk out of there without buying something new to try. The dozens of different types and blends of teas are displayed in little sample cups around a table and you can sniff them. Some of them are made up so you can taste them.
The delicate little glass tea pot came from there too so did the pink teacup. Pete calls it my tea bucket. That is my breakfast cup. Last time I was in there I saw a gorgeous delicate black teacup with a gold rim. When I picked it up to have a better look it was a Limoges cup and cost $164.00, I put it back real quick. There is another tea shop in the centre of Canberra but it is strictly a look only shop for me as it has expensive but beautiful cups and teapots, well out of my price range. Like the floral Winton cups and saucers that I love but are nearly as expensive as the Limoges ones.
Other teas I love are the Lady grey flavored bags. I recently went to a thai restaurant and had some Jasmine tea flavored with Lychee that was great too. And! as an Aussie there is nothing like a big mug of Billy tea made over a campfire in the bush with a gum leaf swished through it for good measure. That is another story all by itself. A special ritual where the fire gives the tea a wonderful smokey flavor. Yum. A great way to finish off a B.B.Q. Not the sort of B.B.Q. you have in the back yard but the kind you have after a picnic in the bush after going walking and exploring and having lunch there. Great stuff.
When we were kids my Mum used to let us have tea parties in the back yard with a little fire and billy tea and scones she made for us. It just about always ended with me making my own cakes out of mud after the tea was gone. See, I must have been meant to be a potter.
Oh I could go on about this subject, yeah I guess I have already. Even though it is not Coffee.
He he. Enjoy.
Love Linda.

16 comments:

Shadow said...

nice coffee, uuuum, tea post, heee heeee heeeee. me, i'm a tea drinker too. just as i was getting into the coffee thing, i got a kidney stone, and the doc advised against caffeine, so coke and coffee went out the back door. so tea it was, tea it is...

anthonynorth said...

Yes, it's good to see that tea is still popular. I'm the tea maker in our household, though.

Martha said...

Love the smell of coffee but have never developed the taste. Now TEA is something I enjoy. Some of my favorites are also Lady Grey and jasmine. I also drink herbal (especially mint) teas. And my husband and I take turns getting each other to make cups of tea for the other. Tea ...

Catherine said...

I remember the lovely floral tea cups and saucers my grandmother used to make. I drink tea occasionally but not very often, there are a few herbal ones I like such as raspberry and peach

Granny Smith said...

I guess I'm just the eclectic sort who drinks coffee, mocha, chai, teas and herbal teas and like them all! Coke, too. I need caffeine to stay awake, and if I am enjoying too many herbal teas, I boost my caffeine with dark-chocolate-covered expresso beans from Trader Joe.

I enjoyed your post. I have two favorite super-sized cups, one chartreuse and one smoky blue gray. I think they're about the size of your pink one.

Enjoy your springtime. It's approaching autumn here and the nights are shivery cold. I'm sitting in front of an electric heater this morning.

susan said...

Hi Linda,
Enjoyed your post.I like tea. I love coffee. What's really nice is getting a cup of culture from your post.

Roan said...

I enjoyed your post. Would love to hear more about Billy tea. Sounds intriguing. BJ

Anonymous said...

its funny how tea vs. coffee comes up...and rarely do people drink both...its one or the other almost always...

latree said...

I'm neither tea or coffee drinker. but I drink tea more than coffee.
still I can feel the addiction of those coffee lovers..

Tumblewords: said...

I love that it's about tea - so similar to coffee in the way they both effect us. Nicely done!

Rambler said...

oh sad to hear that coffee makes you acidy..may be you could drink with a lot more milk..it makes it easy on stomach

Linda Jacobs said...

This is a well-written piece about savoring what we love.

Bimbimbie said...

I'm with you Linda, a cup of tea always tastes a million times better when made by someone else. Those floral Winton tea sets always draw me over for a closer look when I spot them too. Glad the weather was nice and sunny for the Floriade ... almost tropical in Canberra ;) I like the sound of your childhood bush tea parties*!*

Merle said...

G'Day Linda ~~ Great post and the picture is good too. Love your glass tea-pot and oversize Tea cup. I don't like coffee at all, can drink the occasional tea, but prefer low cal
cordial, diet drinks and juices. Mainly
Mango. I have seen the wonderful
Floriade on TV. And it must be beautiful
to see in person. We had a couple of days 26 C - great. back to 19 today.
Take care, glad you passed the IQ test.
Love, Merle.

Everydaythings said...

Floriade - well that was mentioned on better homes and gardens...and they are showing it next weekend! maybe I will catch a glimpse of you there Linda?? Krissie - who is a mad tea drinker!

Pirate Princess said...

Bites the way our systems dictate to us what we will and will not digest, isn't it? :)