In My Mother's Kitchen: Tea
I never drink coffee, which I find disgusting, and I only rarely drink tea. Aside from a stretch of college where I mainlined caffeine via Dr. Pepper, I've never needed caffeine to become awake in the morning. This is a somewhat remarkable accomplishment, as even British people would look at my mother's tea consumption and suggest that perhaps she's taking it a bit too far.
Mom nearly always had a cup of hot tea at hand, regardless of the time of day or the season. She was partial to Red Rose, but found that the Red Rose available in America was weaker than the version sold in Canada, so she'd stock up on trips to Winnipeg. Failing that, any strongly caffeinated tea would be acceptable. She would not hesitate to warm up a cold cup of tea in the microwave, and indeed to save time she would often make a large glass pyrex full of tea and then reheat each cup as needed. In the summer she would vary her routine slightly by making jugs of sun tea on the deck. She had these tall skinny glass jars (I think they originally held borscht) that would be lined up one behind the other on the side of the fridge, each full of sun tea. She'd often make a new jug a day, and sometimes more if the rest of us were drinking the iced tea. Whether it was when she and Dad visited my sister in the U.K. in 2002 or on our family trip to Australia at the end of 2004, somewhere along the way my mother discovered the wonders of electric kettles. This was the number one thing she found enjoyable about Australia (ok, that's probably an exaggeration). Prior to that she would use a microwave to heat up her tea water.
My father also drank a lot of tea. He also drank coffee at work or occasionally on the road or while camping if someone else was offering. I'm not sure I've ever seen my mother drink coffee. In fact, at restaurants she could instantly tell when the hot water for the tea had been warmed up in a coffee carafe, and would inevitably send it back to be reheated in an uncontaminated container. On the rare occasion when she was told that they only had coffee carafes she would tell them exactly how long to put the mug in the microwave so that it would be heated up to the appropriate temperature, and yes, she also would send back tea water if it wasn't hot enough. My mother was not someone who was prone to complaining in stores or restaurants, but if the tea water wasn't right she would definitely step up.
When I was growing up, food was restricted to the kitchen and the dining room, the latter being an all purpose room with a big table - we didn't have a formal dining room or any other formal room in the house. I don't recall if it was a specific rule or just custom, but food and drink were not allowed anywhere else in the house, except very occasionally when we'd have a bowl of air popped popcorn to watch a movie as a family. Everything else was eating in the dining room. I don't remember a single occasion when I had food in my bedroom or near the computer. The only real exception to this rule was that my mother would carry cups of tea with her everywhere in the house. Occasionally she would lose them somewhere in the house, and days later we would find a random cup on a bookshelf in the basement or somewhere else odd. Occasionally they would go missing long enough to accumulate dust. M has recreated this behavior in our home with water glasses, to the point where I make a run through the house before turning on the dish washer and check the usual places.
Despite this rampant tea consumption in my childhood, I never got into the tea habit myself. Oh, I enjoy an occasional cup of hot tea in the winter, and I sometimes drink ice tea at restaurants, but I went through caffeine withdrawal several times in college after fueling finals and/or projects with Dr. Pepper and Coke, and I much decided soda, tea and all other forms of caffeine didn't need to be a regular part of my life. As for coffee, that stuff is utterly disgusting at every level. For a long time the smell would nauseate me, something that changed only after I started brewing it for M before she went to work. When I want a hot beverage in the winter I drink hot chocolate.
Fortunately, I don't need caffeine. Somehow I've almost always gotten enough sleep that caffeine hasn't been necessary to function, and even when I don't, biking to work wakes me up quite handily. My coworkers find it mind blowing that I don't drink caffeine, and on the very rare occasion when I drink a cup as a a pick me up (usually if I'm feeling ill or if I have a dire need to focus) they can tell that I've had caffeine and am acting differently from usual. On the flip side, when I do drink caffeine, it doesn't wear off for a long time.
I will say this: if you don't drink caffeine all the time, it is one hell of a drug.
Mom nearly always had a cup of hot tea at hand, regardless of the time of day or the season. She was partial to Red Rose, but found that the Red Rose available in America was weaker than the version sold in Canada, so she'd stock up on trips to Winnipeg. Failing that, any strongly caffeinated tea would be acceptable. She would not hesitate to warm up a cold cup of tea in the microwave, and indeed to save time she would often make a large glass pyrex full of tea and then reheat each cup as needed. In the summer she would vary her routine slightly by making jugs of sun tea on the deck. She had these tall skinny glass jars (I think they originally held borscht) that would be lined up one behind the other on the side of the fridge, each full of sun tea. She'd often make a new jug a day, and sometimes more if the rest of us were drinking the iced tea. Whether it was when she and Dad visited my sister in the U.K. in 2002 or on our family trip to Australia at the end of 2004, somewhere along the way my mother discovered the wonders of electric kettles. This was the number one thing she found enjoyable about Australia (ok, that's probably an exaggeration). Prior to that she would use a microwave to heat up her tea water.
My father also drank a lot of tea. He also drank coffee at work or occasionally on the road or while camping if someone else was offering. I'm not sure I've ever seen my mother drink coffee. In fact, at restaurants she could instantly tell when the hot water for the tea had been warmed up in a coffee carafe, and would inevitably send it back to be reheated in an uncontaminated container. On the rare occasion when she was told that they only had coffee carafes she would tell them exactly how long to put the mug in the microwave so that it would be heated up to the appropriate temperature, and yes, she also would send back tea water if it wasn't hot enough. My mother was not someone who was prone to complaining in stores or restaurants, but if the tea water wasn't right she would definitely step up.
When I was growing up, food was restricted to the kitchen and the dining room, the latter being an all purpose room with a big table - we didn't have a formal dining room or any other formal room in the house. I don't recall if it was a specific rule or just custom, but food and drink were not allowed anywhere else in the house, except very occasionally when we'd have a bowl of air popped popcorn to watch a movie as a family. Everything else was eating in the dining room. I don't remember a single occasion when I had food in my bedroom or near the computer. The only real exception to this rule was that my mother would carry cups of tea with her everywhere in the house. Occasionally she would lose them somewhere in the house, and days later we would find a random cup on a bookshelf in the basement or somewhere else odd. Occasionally they would go missing long enough to accumulate dust. M has recreated this behavior in our home with water glasses, to the point where I make a run through the house before turning on the dish washer and check the usual places.
Despite this rampant tea consumption in my childhood, I never got into the tea habit myself. Oh, I enjoy an occasional cup of hot tea in the winter, and I sometimes drink ice tea at restaurants, but I went through caffeine withdrawal several times in college after fueling finals and/or projects with Dr. Pepper and Coke, and I much decided soda, tea and all other forms of caffeine didn't need to be a regular part of my life. As for coffee, that stuff is utterly disgusting at every level. For a long time the smell would nauseate me, something that changed only after I started brewing it for M before she went to work. When I want a hot beverage in the winter I drink hot chocolate.
Fortunately, I don't need caffeine. Somehow I've almost always gotten enough sleep that caffeine hasn't been necessary to function, and even when I don't, biking to work wakes me up quite handily. My coworkers find it mind blowing that I don't drink caffeine, and on the very rare occasion when I drink a cup as a a pick me up (usually if I'm feeling ill or if I have a dire need to focus) they can tell that I've had caffeine and am acting differently from usual. On the flip side, when I do drink caffeine, it doesn't wear off for a long time.
I will say this: if you don't drink caffeine all the time, it is one hell of a drug.