Tea'd Off

I dom't drink coffee and I rarely drink tea. My tea drinking is typically limited to the British Club's Ladies' Christmas Tea and my granddaughters' birthday tea. When I do drink tea, it is fru-fru or "girlie" tea. Orange, raspberry or mint will figure into the name. But I really don't give much thought to tea. Even though I'm married to an Englishman and we have an entire shelf in our pantry devoted to tea, I don't even have to remember to buy it because Mark prefers loose leaf tea. Now, the only place you can buy loose leaf tea in our corner of the world is in a specialty shop. (Specialty shop = Exorbitant price). So we stock up on Tesco's finest when we're in England.

Let me say that Mark is good-natured. He rarely complaims about food or beverages, even when they're not particularly good. He seems to know which restaurant and coffee chains have good tea or good coffee and he orders accordingly. Far more sensible than ordering something you know you don't like and complaining about it. But he really does prefer tea for breakfast. So when we were at the Sheraton Suites in Atlanta this past weekend, he ordered tea for breakfast. The young lady brought the pot of hot water immediately. Then she brought the box with all the different tea bags in it and opened it for Mark's inspection.

So many colors! Yellows, oranges, greens. I could see some of the names as he flippeds through. Wild Sweet Orange. Berryblossom White. Green Ginger. Zen. He flipped through every packet in the box. "Do you have any real tea?"

I don't think this waitress had ever encountered an Englishman at breakfast before. She asked him what he meant by "real" tea.

"Real tea. Earl Grey, English Breakfast Tea. Something like that."

She took the box away and came back with two packets clearly labeled "Earl Grey Tea". Just what he wanted! But it did make me think about how challenging this part of the world can be for tea drinkers. Almost every hotel room comes equipped with a coffee maker and coffee. (Except for the W Hotel in Buckhead which comes equipped with a cocktail shaker.But that's a different story.) But they often don't have tea. Our room at the Sheraton did have a tea bag in it, but it was the Wild Sweet Orange, not the Earl Grey. We were relating the experience to my sister and her husband over dinner. Apparently Tony's mom just takes her tea with her. I think she may be on to something. I need to add tea bags to the car's emergency box. Just in case.