A Time For Everything

Pip Pip Cheerio! Today is National Hot Tea Day.

If you don't know about my love for hot tea by now, you don't know me at all...

I drink it winter and summer, fall and spring; morning, afternoon, and evening as the mood strikes.

My absolute favorite tea, has been for years, is Perfectly Mint by Bigelow. If anyone wanted to buy me a box or multiple boxes of that, I'm happy to receive it.

I do, in fact, have a six-box subscription from Amazon set up because a) I drink that much of it and b) sometimes my local grocery store has trouble keeping it in stock.

Yes, Perfectly Mint tea is my one addiction.

DH and DD do both, on occasion, drink it as well. DH drinks it more regularly, often having it instead of coffee; but DD only drinks it when she's not feeling well and laden with sugar. I gave up sugar in most teas ages ago, during my major weight loss effort. These days, I'll only sugar my tea if I have a sweet tooth but nothing else to indulge it with. (I need to get back to that situation.)(Soon.)

If you're an enjoyer of hot tea, then every day's a day to enjoy a cup.

But if you only indulge every once in a while, well, today--National Hot Tea Day--is the day to put the kettle on and settle in for a cuppa of your favorite blend. Do share your favorite variety of tea in the comments.

Be well. See you Monday.

*

P.S. I think I subconsciously picked today's particular image because of the green tea bag tag. I didn't notice it at first. Not until I came back and began drafting this post. My Perfectly Mint tea bag tags are -- you guessed it -- that shade of green. :0)

Cuppa Tea...

Image courtesy of IMGBIN. 

Cuppa Joe...

 Image courtesy of IMGBIN.

There was a time when I was non-believer in this phenomena, but not anymore. You know, where the cup or mug that you consistently drink from gets stained and seasoned by your beverage of choice.

Yeah, it's thing.

I had a small, handled Tervis cup that I drank my morning tea out of for years. The inside was stained and the plastic had soaked in the essence of my favorite tea flavor. That first morning cuppa was the most delightful, most comforting, most satisfying.

I also had a tall Tervis cup out of which I drank a lot of tea. It too got stained. And seasoned.

And then one day I washed it. Like scrubbed it out and put a drop of bleach in the soak water.

And the next time I drank tea out of it? Not the same satisfaction, folks!

Then I got a new small, handled Tervis cup for Christmas last year because the old one was full of stress fractures and water had seeped into the inner part of it. And it took a while to get that new cup stained and seasoned. But after a year, it's just right. :0)

Now I no longer wash the inside of a handful of cups. I wash the outside and I wash the rims, inside and out, but from a half inch down, that inside is cleaned by nothing but the sanitizing properties of the boiling water I pour into it several times a day.

I have three cups: one that always stays home, two for travel, and one at the office.

And you know how, when you stay at hotels, they tell you that you can heat up water in those mini-coffee pots they have. Well, as a non-coffee drinker...let me say--

Oh no you can't.

Not for tea anyway. Because...that filter bin--which is made of plastic and without which you cannot make coffee or water--is stained by the flavor of the coffee and taints the water. Yes, it does. I had too many morning cups of tea ruined that way.

When I go on longer trips now, I have an electric kettle I drag along for making tea in the room because I drink a lot of it and it's a pain in the rear to trek to the lobby for hot water that often.

So tell me, do you know what I'm talking about here? Do you have a favorite cup that no one will touch without gloves? Do share.

Hope you're well! Catch you Thursday!

I've received the second half of the revisions to the current work-in-progress! And I'm definitely excited to have them back. This book will be infinitely better because of this editor's touch. Can't wait to dive in tomorrow morning. :0)

 In other news...

There really is no other news at the moment. Oh wait, there is...

As you know, we own our own business. After twelve years, we're finally getting kitchen space. It'll be nice to have a place to prep meals and eat them that aren't my desk. We'll also be splurging on an ice maker and a hot/cold water dispenser.

We'll also be painting the tech area and buying news desks in an effort to spruce up the environment for the employees.

Everything is moving a high speed right now which is not my favorite pace, but the changes are long overdue, much anticipated, and worth the short term chaos.

I'm trying to get back on the meal plan wagon...the weekend was a loss, but I've done well so far this week. My motivation was / is pumpkin cupcakes over Thanksgiving weekend, so I'm trying really hard to earn them.

Weekdays are definitely easier than weekends and after being off the wagon for so long. Consuming sugars and carbs for that time frame, re-awakened my sweet tooth--which is always just taking a catnap anyway--and lowered my resistance levels.

On top of all that--first world problems, I know--my stash of Plantation Mint has run out and the stores are out as well. What I discovered is that after decades, Bigelow has decided to change the name from Plantation Mint to Perfectly Mint.

I have setup a subscription from Amazon so that I no longer have to worry about whether or not my local grocery store has it. The problem is waiting another ten days or so for the first delivery. I might just have to break down and place a smaller order to tide me over.

Did I mention how much I really miss my tea?

Have a great rest of your week!