As a child I hated tea. I had only ever been offered ice tea but I found the taste of it horrible to my young taste buds. My neighbor girl Debbie’s family were big ice tea drinkers.
I remember every summer when I was over at their house, which was most days, she’d pour herself a tall glass of ice tea into those multicolored aluminum tumblers that were so cool to drink out of. I refused every time and always wished I liked tea. It smelled good to me and to hear the clink of ice in those aluminum cups was such an invitation to drink, but not for me.
My parents were not tea drinkers either if I am recalling right. They were coffee people and I grew up a coffee person. Straight black coffee. Yum! Later when fancy coffee places became a thing I was introduced to a “white chocolate mocha latte” by my oldest daughter Torri. It became my new thing and I found a coffee creamer that when added to my home brewed coffee mimicked the fancy version almost perfectly. I was set for life, or so I thought.
During the time I was staying at Torri’s to help out for a while, she also introduced me to hot tea. I was very hesitant at first, recalling my childhood dislike of tea, but found I did like the pleasant flavors. The next thing I knew I was trying flavored ice teas as well and settled on peach tea as my number one choice. Well look at me, I was now a coffee AND tea person. Debbie would be proud.
Several months or more ago, as I age I lose track of time, my acid reflux disease decided to make a hearty comeback. No more coffee or tea or anything with acid, or fizzy, or minty or spicy. Most of the food and drink world were eliminated in one fell swoop. Now what was I to do?
Thankfully near me there is a sweet little “tea cellar” shop that sells all kinds of loose leaf teas. I had collected many various tea strainers and tea cups and saucers to have my teas in over the years, now I needed to find a tea I could still drink and not upset the stomach with too much acid.
Rooibos tea is one of those teas and this little shop had a few flavors I tried out. I had to eliminate several due to mint being an ingredient or a citrus being an ingredient, but then I found my golden tea – Bourbon St. Vanilla. Lightly sweet taste with just the right amount of vanilla. Add to it a good splash of my almond vanilla creamer and I am almost back to my long ago white chocolate vanilla flavor! Heaven in a cup.
I have learned a few things about making my tea. It’s ok just to nuke the water in your coffee cup, tea pots are optional, although they are pretty cool. You don’t need a special tea strainer to put your tea in, just go to the shop and buy a pack of their medium tea filter papers. I like about a tablespoon or more of tea in my filter rather than the teaspoon or two that the tea packs say. I also like to let mine steep for a bit longer than the usual five minutes.
If you go to a “home” goods type store for $3 you can buy a pair of “pot watchers” that work perfectly to “clip” your tea filter bag into your cup of hot water, and no tea leaves in the bottom of your cup. I also found I prefer the taste of almond vanilla creamer over regular vanilla creamer and can only find it at the big “T” store. I’ve included photos because I don’t get paid for advertising and can’t just throw out brand names willy-nilly, (hence all the ” “) but I think you can figure it out.
So while we may all be staying home for a while, I hope you will brew yourself a nice “cuppa”, enjoy a good book or re-watch some of your favorite TV shows. If you try my brand, let me know what you think. Stay safe.
Until next time…
Toni