Tea

I've been a varying level of caffeine addict (or recovering caffeine addict) for probably 3/4 of my life. It began at around ten years old when I, seeking to emulate my parents, requested coffee before bedtime. This is a clear mimic of their post-evening-prandial coffee consumption, and they thoughtfully negotiated down to "milky coffee", which was a concoction of roughly 99 parts warm milk and the merest hint of a teaspoon of "instant coffee".

Instant coffee is a bane of my existence, as it were. I don't have any in the house primarily because I hate the taste, but also because it helps control my consumption. I digress.

Like most teenagers, I graduated to cola, replacing most other liquids consumed, and ended up probably borderline hyperactive courtesy of the sugar and the caffeine I was consuming. The only thing that was probably more deleterious to my health were the Coles generic salt-and-vinegar chips that were acidic enough to strip the skin off of your mouth with a single chip, let along the bags of them that would be consumed as we gamed our way through the weekend.

In University, it was bad cups of instant coffee from vending machines for those late night sessions IRCing. This was followed by the JOLT years. It wasn't enough to be consuming JOLT cola, Tony and I would freeze it so that it would crystallize the water leaving the syrup to be consumed. Incidentally, this is where I had my first palpitations from caffeine and sugar, and my first period of abstinence from caffeine altogether for almost a year.

Sydney, and free coffee as well as a cafe culture and soon I was starting my day with a latte from a cafe, punctuating it with instant coffee at work, and then finishing it with either Mocona instant or a Coke once I'd downed tools and headed back to my apartment. This somewhat translated when I upped stakes to Kansas City, with the change to brewed coffee over latte until I moved to the corporate HQ which had on-site cafe's that would whip up a sugar and caffeine laden piece of heaven named a White Mocha. Mmmm, white mocha. 700 calories in a cup.

Suffice it to say, I am happy now to have modified my caffeine intake markedly, where coffee is consumed to get me through the commute and then tea is consumed for the rest of the day, accompanied by voluminous amounts of water.

I am a loyal Twinings customer, if you must know. I am a consumer of most of their range, and provide the following users guide to their tea range.

Irish Breakfast Tea: stunningly good tea. Robust flavor, steeps to a wonderful orange liquor, is perfect with or without milk or sugar. I take mine with sugar, and it's my go-to morning tea.

English Breakfast Tea: good, solid, predictable. Black tea that needs just a hint of sugar to finish it. One of my two alternates to Irish Breakfast.

Ceylon Orange Pekoe Tea: good, complex tea. Black tea that needs just a dash of milk and sugar to bring out it's full character. A solid contender to replace both Irish and English breakfast teas if you're in the mood for something different.

Earl Grey Tea: Bergamot is the main difference here, and this is my default early afternoon tea. It's delightfully delicate without being watery, and with a little sugar it's pretty much as good as it gets.

Lady Grey Tea: Bergamot and a citrus touch make this a lighter tea than Earl Grey by itself. I am really torn about this tea. I love to drink it, but for some reason (the citrus, I think) I generally end up feeling rather bad after a cup. Not all the time, but sometimes it just leaves me feeling very unhappy.

English Afternoon Tea: a new favorite. Good solid black tea, really shines when you add milk and sugar. Quickly becoming a favorite.

Chai Tea: A nod to the Indian chai is ok, but nowhere near as good as the real thing. Bergamot makes an appearance. Not a daily drinker, but definitely a good change.

Fujian White Tea: Such a light, delicate tea. It's a white tea, so it's easy to abuse it by allowing it to steep too long is very easy. It's a late afternoon tea for me, as it's practically caffeine free.

Tea good. Coffee good, tea doable.