Just me for you and you for me.
It's official. I have finally given up coffee and I think the part is permanent. After more than two weeks without making a single pot, George and I decided to brew a pot Sunday morning for old time's sake. I swear, after two cups of joe each, we were like kids on crack. We were both spinning in circles and climbing the walls. It was a strange sight indeed, but a good lesson - no more coffee for us. After drinking coffee habitually for the past 15 years, I am quite proud of my ability to put the french press on the top shelf and be done with it until our next dinner party.
I realized that not only was I addicted to coffee, I was addicted to sitting each morning and sipping something warm from a mug. I now sip tea, caffeinated in the morning and decaffeinated in the afternoon and sometimes in the evening. Anytime is tea time at our house. I went a little overboard and bought four boxes of tea at the grocery store yesterday. I am a sucker for seasonal flavors, and Celestial Seasoning's new Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea sucked me right into buying a box. I don't want to know what "natural flavors" make the tea smell like hot sugar cookies and taste like butter and vanilla with a hint of orange zest; knowing may ruin my complete and utter enjoyment of each cup I've had in the last 24 hours (perhaps three, then the cup I made for the kids but finished off for them).
The downside of buying four boxes of tea is the storage and waste of packaging. It won't be long before I find my way to a tea shop to buy loose tea and a stainless steel tea ball. For now, I plan on enjoying each of my 80 new tea bags; French Vanilla, Sugar Cookie, Earl Gray, and Jasmine.
Stop by for a cup if you venture into my neck of the woods. I'll make you a cuppa. One lump or two?
I realized that not only was I addicted to coffee, I was addicted to sitting each morning and sipping something warm from a mug. I now sip tea, caffeinated in the morning and decaffeinated in the afternoon and sometimes in the evening. Anytime is tea time at our house. I went a little overboard and bought four boxes of tea at the grocery store yesterday. I am a sucker for seasonal flavors, and Celestial Seasoning's new Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea sucked me right into buying a box. I don't want to know what "natural flavors" make the tea smell like hot sugar cookies and taste like butter and vanilla with a hint of orange zest; knowing may ruin my complete and utter enjoyment of each cup I've had in the last 24 hours (perhaps three, then the cup I made for the kids but finished off for them).
The downside of buying four boxes of tea is the storage and waste of packaging. It won't be long before I find my way to a tea shop to buy loose tea and a stainless steel tea ball. For now, I plan on enjoying each of my 80 new tea bags; French Vanilla, Sugar Cookie, Earl Gray, and Jasmine.
Stop by for a cup if you venture into my neck of the woods. I'll make you a cuppa. One lump or two?
i'd love to come for tea.
ReplyDeletemy husband and I started doing tea together on saturday afternoons. It was perfect b/c oftentimes, he'd be outside working, i'd be inside working, but we always knew at 3:30, everything was dropped and we came together for tea.
I'll be right over!
ReplyDeleteCelestial Seasonings Madagascar Vanilla Red is really good. It has a lion on it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like too much sugar!!!!!
ReplyDeleteCheck out loose tea offerings. The Chinese people we saw left the leaves in!
Maybe a trip back to Chinatown in SF is in order!
Stiil drinking coffee...........
Love
Dad
I can't give up my one cup of coffee in the morning, yet. But I do love my tea, all day long. Loose tea and a tea pot makes it such a ceremony each time. I love Chai tea from Frontier, in bulk. And Earl Grey, peppermint, the seasonal ones....
ReplyDeleteYou're a stronger person than me. Coffee is my lifeline. I love tea too, but I can't give up the coffee ritual.
ReplyDeleteSpinning in circles? Climbing walls? Sounds like too much fun to give it up! I soooooo look forward to my coffee buzz each morning... yee haa! (Just one cup though... I'm a cheap date!)
ReplyDeleteAnd then I look forward to my cuppa tea buzz in the afternoon! (English Breakfast--with milk!)
P.S. Love your attention to the whole "excess packaging" thing. You go girl!
I'm a sucker for tea, too. I don't know what it is, but I end up buying a ton of it, and I really only drink tea when I'm sick, or a few times a year otherwise. I'm still on the coffee.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, it is alot of packaging. You rock for trying to be so diligent about it, and I am trying to be more so as well. At least the majority of the packaging is biodegradable, at least. But there's all that used product and printing and shipping to think about.
I like spicy teas, and earthy teas: chai tea, english breakfast, earl grey, some green teas with lemongrass or mint, chamomile. But my favorite, I think is ginger tea. Most notably, with apricot or peach. It's good for you when you are sick, will boost your immune system, help get you better, and is a bit spicy, sweet, without being overly so. I love that. I've got a couple of ginger teas in my cabinet, a green ginger tea, and a peach ginger, at the moment.
Wow....I am sitting here drinking a cup as I read this....you're right though...it's the warmth of the cup and the hot liquid...maybe I should try tea....
ReplyDeleteHave a blessed day!
kari and kijsa
Yep. Did the same thing. I started by replacing my coffee habit with Chai.
ReplyDeleteThe packaging was an issue for me, too. Now it's just loose leaf green tea with sugar and milk - all day long. I put the tea in my tea ball and then into my teapot and brew it a pot at a time. I even bought two Camellia Sinesis bushes so that I could make my own loose leaf green tea :).
My husband drinks Roiboos tea, which we order online from a fair trade vendor ;).
My daughter is the only one who still uses teabags, and she likes Bigelow mint tea :).
I love the Chai tea bags from Trader Joe's. I drink decaff coffee, and when I drink regular I sure feel it. I want to make the tea where you put the flower blossom in the cup and watch it open and become a cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteJohn and I have tea together every night, I ove it. I love me some coffee though too.
ReplyDeleteOh, you be careful, now. That tea has a way of taking over your kitchen cabinet space. :-)
ReplyDeleteIn the last 6 months I've mostly given up coffee--except for an occasional cup at the office in the afternoons and the occasional decaf mocha while at the book store--it's amazing how addicted one can get, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI found it suprising to find out that now it's completely out of my system I have more energy now than when I was drinking it.
Yay to tea! I've converted to tea as well...but which brand was the sugar cookie type? I couldn't quite make out which one was which (or need to adjust monitor settings)
ironically, my latest post on my blog is about coffee, lol! But I did get the decaf version, but haven't told anyone at work about my switch.
The Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride is from Celestial Seasonings. And thanks to Marjorie, I've been sampling some loose teas. Enjoy your tea everyone!
ReplyDelete