I have been a coffee drinker for all of my adult life. Love the stuff. The fragrance of fresh ground beans, give me a break. Nothing like it. I like to buy a pound bag of, oh, say, Stumptown Coffee's "Hair Bender", and then, while I am putting the groceries away in the kitchen, just open that sucker up, and reef up a few capital nose hits right off the bag to torture myself til I get a cup made.
One Sunday morning, we brewed up a cup, she had her regular latte, and then we sat in the garden trying to wake up, she, enjoying the fresh hot perfect beeyotch latte, and me over here with my no more coffee for life jail sentence green tea.
I drank that cup down, and as we awoke 'midst the chirping of birds and the fragrance of our summer garden, I suddenly realized, I felt like I had a jolt of caffeine in me. I was all talkative, and of course, my first thought was, holy shit, green tea is fucking good! It might even be great! I think I'll have another cup!! So I drank another, and fully discovered, on that day, that the English aren't so damn stupid after all. Tea rules! And also Elspeth Huxley, she's English, wrote The Flame Trees of Thika.
I could go on and on about the discoveries I have made about green tea over time, it's medicinal qualities, the fact that it doesn't bother my stomach, how I've learned to love the taste and the mellow glow I get from it in the morning (and evening), but I am typing this on my iPhone with my index finger so let me just say, discovering green tea and enjoying it so much has been just great. For me. Here's the wikipedia entry for green tea.
So I like to share the news, though I am certain I do not possess the fundamentalist gene so you, you can take it or leave it, whatever. For me, wow, it's been a blessing. I still drink coffee, one cup, half decaf, almost everyday, but I'm really a green tea guy.
So my pal Grant, that guy up there with me in our kitchen, has been contemplating cutting down on the coffee. So I offered to show him my green tea routine tonight, and fed him some red meat too, cuz we're both grizzled and hardcore iron pumpin' dees dems and dose kinda lumberjack types.
When Grant arrived, I started my primer by showing him my green tea, which I purchase at Portland's Foxfire Teas on SE 11th. I really like the owners, Quinn and Katherine, and they have a nice store, great service, and tea knowledge. "Tea is Fun", is their motto, and they're right!The way I make my tea is by putting a teaspoon of loose leaf tea (I'm now using "Jade Fire") into a 2-cup Pyrex measurer with cold water. Then I microwave it on high for 3 minutes. Then I wait a few minutes, and then pour it through a small strainer into a large mug. I immediately put the leaves back into the Pyrex container with water and start it in the microwave, so it will be ready when I've finished drinking my first cup. Most days I toss an ice cube in that first cup, cuz I'm a no nonsense gotta move dude and I've got shit to accomplish, and I want my tea to be the right temperature to drink NOW!
The photo on your left is the teaspoon of loose leaf tea floating on top prior to microwaving. The photo on the right is post microwaving, with the tea leaves starting to unfurl and flavor the water.
Try it! Especially if that coffee is taking its toll on you. Thanks for reading this. Now go get some good loose leaf green tea!!
My story in annoying detail:
3 comments:
Well, Ric...
I have just PRINTED this post and sent
it to 3 people, and subscribed. all
at once. I am intrigued by this
idea of Green Tea. Do you sweeten it?
I have read that if you put milk in
it, it will cancel the benefits.
What say you??
I dont sweeten mine at all Patty but I'm sure one could. Don't know about the milk issue. Maybe if you go meet Quinn or Katherine you could ask them. You read my blog!!
I had a great time, although I must say, there's a lot more caffeine in that there tea than I realized. Took me ages to get to sleep. It was worth it though, for the company and the tea secrets. Thanks again!
Post a Comment