As I’m sure regular reader will know by now I love tea. It really is my favourite drink and I just can’t get enough. I have to drink at least 6 mugs a day and by mugs I mean huge Cath Kidston mugs. It seems I’m not alone with a love for tea. Emma at Wanderlust And Wet Wipes is also a huge fan. Here she talks about tea drinking with her Mum:
It’s a funny thing about the habits you form with your parents. In my case, drinking tea with my mum started early – mum always drank tea (seriously gallons of the stuff) so I think it was inevitable that I would. I don’t really remember a time when I didn’t drink it! We even trained my brother (who doesn’t drink it) to make a mean cuppa. As mum and I both got older and more sensitive to the effects of caffeine we switched to decaf. Heaven forbid should we simply stop drinking it! It has become a bit of a standing joke with our family and friends about the random places we have drunk tea together:
Early Years
To start off with tea drinking was quite normal, I suppose. Tea in the morning, in the afternoon, at the weekend with grandparents. A tea break on a shopping trip. Tea breaks in the pouring rain on what we affectionately called PAWs (Perfectly Awful Walks) – we still went on them of course. Tea on the beach in Widemouth Bay (rain or shine) where we spent every summer until I was 18.
Gap years, travelling and uni brought new dimensions to our tea drinking: from perched on my little bed in halls to the enormous but drafty old house I lived in in my second year. I travelled to Ecuador twice in that time and there were some emotional cups of tea drunk as we waited for trains and planes. On the flip side there were lots of celebratory cups drunk on my return.
Tea Overseas
Ecuador provided us with our first challenges for tea drinking: the first time I was there someone made me a cup of tea with milk in it as they had heard that was how the English drink their tea….not realizing that milk only goes in black tea so this was a cup of fruit tea with milk in. I’m pretty sure I drank it to be polite.
When mum came to visit me the first thing she noticed in my little bedsit was that I didn’t have a kettle. Cue us spending a morning scouring the streets of Quito for her to buy me one. My neighbour was kind enough to let me borrow his fridge to keep my milk in. We had several shocking cups after which I developed a little spiel to say as I ordered: “Two cups of tea please. You need to make it with boiling water. Actually boiling.” If it arrived in warm water it would be sent back with “Boiling water. You know with bubbles.” Funny how a bad cuppa makes a good story 20 years later.
Grown Up Tea
I grew older. Got a job. Found a boy and then a flat and we got married. Tea drinking was still a feature. Mum’s house was where I drank my first cup of tea after giving it up for Lent. I asked her to give me away over a cup at Waterloo station before heading off to go wedding dress shopping together. Early in the morning the day after our wedding I woke up and crept off to have a cuppa with mum while my new husband slept on in bed for several more hours.
The new husband took me to live in Houston where he had been offered a job. The drinking continued over Skype calls and visits. There was one rather last minute flight booked because mum said “I just wanted a cup of tea with my girl”. On repatriation there were cups drunk with a toddler running around and even waiting for a baby to make an appearance!
Here And Now
A couple of years later, we took another assignment abroad. This time to Qatar in the Middle East so we are back to Skype teas and as much tea as we can drink when we see each other. Decaf tea (not often available here) is imported at any opportunity. When mum visits, more hilarity has ensued rather reminiscent of the Ecuador days but this time with milk. You have to ask specifically for milk. I occasionally forget but usually I remember to ask for “cold skimmed milk on the side please”. The milk sometimes arrives, sometimes it doesn’t and you have to chase it up. Then it arrives… full fat and warm.
Still, no matter where we are, and no matter how it arrives, I love drinking tea with my mum.
Emma is a closer to 40 than 30 mum to 2 mostly adorable but mad and often also very irritating young kids and is married to a lucky travel mad husband. Emma blogs at Wanderlust And Wet Wipes and can also be found on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Candace says
They do don’t they?
Yolanda says
This post is exactly why I also love tea! Beautifully written. I am also obsessed with tea (hence my bog name – Put The Kettle On)! Whenever I travel to the US the one thing I miss is my tea. They just don’t know how to make it and I don’t think anyone has a kettle. As soon as I get back home to Canada I get home and make myself a cup 🙂
Jenny says
What a heartwarming story. I got all the feels reading this <3
Chelsea Rose says
This is so well said and has me a little emotional. These simple traditions are sometimes the most important! I hope I can pass on some tea drinking to my future little ones someday!
Claire - Heart Handmade UK says
I flipping love tea, but I’m Irish. Course I do 😉 I don’t drink as much tea as I used to because I stopped drinking tea when I went dairy free about 5 years ago. I use almond milk alas it is not the same. Stevia and almond milk… yeeaaay Did you ever watch the documentary by Victoria Wood (I think) all about tea? Was on the beeb and it was fascinating. xo
Corey | The Nostalgia Diaries says
Love this post and these stories. I’m a huge tea fan, too – I drink about 6 cups a day!
Mjchristine says
I’m a tea lover too and I can really relate to your story, we share the same thoughts!
Melissa Javan says
Sweet story. My mom drinks a lot of tea too lol
Once at a restuarant where I worked people wanted tea on a hot day, I asked why, they said “tea cools you off on a hot day.”
I just couldn’t deal 🙂
Emma Morrell says
Ha ha this literally happened to us last week just after I submitted this post! We were in Italy together and it was about a million degrees. We had been in the sun all morning on a boat and I had been feeling awfully seasick (thats a different post) so we headed off to find a cup of tea. The people there were like “you want hot tea? HOT tea?!!!!” Made us giggle.
A Norfolk Mummy says
What a lovely post! It’s so lovely that you have this tradition
Sarah - Arthurwears says
I was the same – I have switched I Yorkshire decaf tea now and we’d dont drink as much as before because I always forget about it!
nadine says
Aww I’ve never read such an affectionate post about tea! but it is great to see how far it transcends and how it draws people together. I used to hate tea (shock horror). But pregnancy changed that and I am a lover of a good brew too now!
Inclusive Home says
Aw this is lovely! I have to admit I don’t really like tea (eek!), but actually have a pretty similar coffee drinking tradition going on with my mum!
Sarah says
Do you know what? I don’t like tea (eeek) but I do love peppermint, does that count? I did love this post, oh my goodness to milk in fruit tea!
Jeannette @autismmumma says
I love all the traditions around drinking tea and the gorgeous tea sets and cake stands involved in an afternoon tea but …I don’t like tea Can’t even make a cuppa for my husband