Tee shot

The holidays are coming: one if by land, two if by sea. I think I'm ready for them, prepared but not overly so. It always surprises me when people surprise me with gifts. Tautological? Maybe so, but I'd rather be surprised when people surprise me than not.

My new piano student's dad works for a coffee and tea importer and has, at the first lesson, supplied me with a svelte canister of illy espresso. He was also responsible for the aforementioned surprise, which, now, will be of no surprise to you, the reader, as I have foreshadowed it like a Thai sex professional's eyes. [I don't know why I feel the need to have a simile for everything.]

So, the contents of the surprise were teas. Generally I'm into coffee, but that doesn't mean I'm opposed to tea. I like the taste (although it doesn't excite me like the dark richness of some coffees) and I actually prefer the way it makes me feel. It's like going to the Handlebar wanting to order the Ground Nut Stew but ending up with the Handlebar Salad: a little less satisfying going down, but an hour later you feel much better.

So this post is fueled by tea. I don't think the tea itself is to blame for its stream-of-consciousness nature. But maybe. It's a totally different experience drinking tea. And to be more specific: good tea.

In fact, good anything.

I take food and drink for granted quite often. Coffee is my indentured servant; it fills a need and I only notice when it's bad. In the summer, when I'm riding multiple dozens of miles a day--sometimes scores--food becomes a necessity more than a luxury. I don't enjoy food as much when I'm eating whatever and whenever just to fuel the machine.

But when you encounter something you know is Quality--especially when you have to pay for it yourself--it gives you pause. Even in the heat of the summer, when Lisa took me to The Gage on Michigan, I savored the experience. [And yet I can't remember right now what I had. Being a third or fourth date, I must have had other things to think about. The meal at Uncommon Ground I remember more clearly: lamb ribs.]

So this morning, before I ate my chocolate croissant delivered last night by the New Wave croissant fairy, I had a lovely cup of loose leaf Earl Grey tea.

Ingredients: China black tea and white tips (96%), bergamot essential oil (2%), cornflowers and sunflowers (2%).

Subtle. The first cup might have been a little weak (or the milk was too strong), but it still drew me in. Maybe the more subdued taste pulls you in--like a whisper instead of a shout.

I love how, whether coffee or tea, when you don't stir it after adding milk, there are surprise plumes of lighter shades of brown that emerge, making swirlycues and spirals like little galaxies.