Thursday Kitchen: Tea Time

(from www.lucasart.net)

When the weather turns cold, it's a warm beverage that makes it worth it to face the day. While I enjoy my morning cup of green tea, the afternoon coffee, maybe some mulled wine or cider at night, I miss my tea times...

My first tea time was spent with Anya back when we were in high school. She made me my first "proper" cup of tea with milk and honey. We had this gorgeous black tea, peach and apricot, from the French Market in New Orleans. It comes in this wooden box with a slide-off top. Maybe it's because it was my first, but I've not had a peach tea that was better than that first cup.

Several teas after that brilliant first, we made an impressive blunder. We made a pot of peach tea, different brand, and went about preparing the proper cup. As we poured the milk, something happened... tiny worm strands began to form. The milk was curdling. Neither of us knew what we were seeing, and I think we were too embarassed to say anything, so we drank it anyway. This is how we learned to read tea boxes: If it says Herbal, you don't want to add milk.

My further exposure to tea time led me to The Painted Lady Tea House in Norfolk, Virginia. A dear friend's mother took me there for the very first time where I experienced "High Tea." It's really another mealtime. You have little sandwiches, scones, and some sort of petit fours style dessert. I know that doesn't sound like much, but it's actually pretty filling. Examples include cucumber sandwiches, maybe egg salad or pimento cheese on pumpernickel bread. And yummy warm cranberry scones or orange or chocolate. They bring you clotted cream, lemon curd, and jam of some sort (raspberry being my favorite) for your scones. Desserts include things like chocolate covered strawberries, lemon bars, cookies, etc. Makes my mouth water thinking about it...

I couldn't talk about tea without remembering a thermos in the back row of a boring French class... or in the teacher's lounge of the English department of W&M when it was still in Tucker Hall. Johanna and I shared more tea together than anyone else I know. It helps that she's not a coffee person, so that was always our beverage of choice. Even in summer we would just make iced tea. I could not even begin to count how many tea times we spent together... it is, quite possibly, the foundation our association with one another... tea time.

I have a favorite cup for tea at home. It's thin and tall and wrapped in the solar system. I don't use it often. It doesn't come out at dinners when I might serve tea to warm up my guests. It's only used when I finally have that cozy moment with a book, a blanket, my cat, and time to spare. It's like that sweater that's too big for you, but you like it, it's warm, and you only wear it at home. It's reserved for tea, so it's never stained by coffee; if I ever mixed the beverages, that would change the way tea tastes in that particular cup. I don't want to use it all the time... that would take away from how special it is...

...which goes for the beverage, too. Proper tea is not an everyday drink, an every day feeling. It's not casual like coffee... it's not a getting-to-know-you date option (Though I did have one guy ask me out on our first date by saying, "Would like to have tea with me next week?" Of course, I accepted... how often does a guy ask you to have tea?) Instead, tea works for a slow sipping conversation. An honest discussion. A safe place to be yourself. You can't have that all the time, but it's so readily available when you need it. Put the kettle on. Wait for the whistle. Add it to a pot of your chosen tea. Give it enough time to steep. Pour generously. The rest of the teapot is right there if you would like some more tea, some more time to talk, some more space.