I’m quite late to the party. I’ve spent all 30 years of my life consuming very little caffeine, to this day I’ve never tried coffee.
Although I grew up around my grandparents, who are fuelled primarily with tea, I never picked up the habit to drink it myself. It could well be I’m just rather unadventurous in my beverages- mostly water with a rare juice or cola.
Plants don’t seem to be all that bothered by just drinking water, and so I’ve never questioned it. Yet I always have green tea in my cupboard for the uncommon and delightful event of making my own bubble tea. Bubble tea for me is like how others might view punch- a party in a bowl, but rarely seen outside of frivolous occasions. Bubble tea is really a treat.
But recently I have started to drink green tea on its own- hot from the boil in the early afternoon, to comfort a work from home lull near the end of the day.
I had never used caffeine the way others do- I have never used it to power through a difficult day or kick start me in the morning, I have always resigned to the fact that if I’m tired, I should sleep. And I rarely make it past 10pm.
But as I get older, and take on more work and more hobbies and responsibilities, I seem to get much more tired than in my twenties. Raring to go at 6 in the morning, but ready for bed by 6 in the evening. So this new discovery that tea can give you some extra valuable minutes in a day has been quite revelatory. It might seem a pathetic discovery, but the quiet moments I hug a warm cup, I’m comforted by the new activity.
With my cup of bitter and over-brewed green tea next to me, I’m grateful to have the opportunity to see things in a different light since working from home. If I hadn’t drunk the tea- this small corner of my blog would not exist. So perhaps there’s a tiny ray of hope for creativity, hidden in the warmth of every cup of cha.