Thursday 18 December 2008

My Tea Adventure

I've discovered lately that I have developed a penchant for tea...yes, tea, the drinking kind...I don't like coffee because it leaves a horrible after taste in my mouth and tongue, which I would have to use my tongue scraper to get rid off. But I absolutely love the smell of coffee, it is so tantalizing and sensuos....but not to drink...just smell.

Maybe tea is my caffeine drive instead of coffee. But I treat tea like drinking hot plain water because tea doesn't have an after taste, unless you drink the really bitter and thick tea. I take my tea hot and sugarless. In the office, I've started the habit to drink tea in my 1.5 liter water bottle, made from just one satchet of tea, steeped in hot water for a few minutes then pour in cold water. Result: wonderful, watery but drinkable tea. Just the way I like them!

Best tea I tasted was in Krispy Kreme in Jakarta, with accompaniment of sweet donuts . It was Rosebud with lemongrass, and the taste is so magnificent. I have not been able to find the brand of tea again....the satchet is also quite unique as it was triangular in shape and the material holding the rosebuds and lemongrass is like soft plastic.

I would have to say that the second best tea that I've ever tasted is the Red Berries tea from the Ronnefeld brand. It has the sour taste of Red Berries and the color is so bright, not sure if it is au naturel or just coloring. I still have some satchets left from which I collected during tea breaks in Shangri-La Tanjung Aru, KK last year when I attended a meeting there. Maybe they have it in stores...I haven't been to the cold storage in ages..

A mouthful to pronounce: Superoxide Dismutase Lemon Tea Essence from Life Compact brand. I bought this together with Ms Autumn Lilies when we went to Watson at the Mall. They were having a demonstration at the store and were saying that among the benefits is to reduce cough, which I was suffering at that time. It did alleviate the cough, but not to eradicate it. This is what started my tea drinking to this point. I wouldn't say my tea drinking is an obsession but it is an alternative to iced water or coffee.

Fourth is the most excellent lemongrass shot from Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre's welcome drink. I would categorize this as tea although it is presented in a small shot glass with one lemongrass for taste and effect. It is also served cold and sweet. You could hardly call a lemongrass shot juice, not popular with the mass taste bud. It is in the same line with ginger tea...more used for zen treatment after spa.

So there you have it...my tea adventure. Sorry no pics....

2 comments:

la Signora said...

I realized as soon as I left the 'student years', I took up tea drinking like it's going out in style!I'm fortunate enough to have a travelling aunt, so my souveniers are often tea sachets/leaves etc.I was obsessed with oolong tea at one stage (the i-want-to-be-kurus stage)and finally gave in to your normal everyday Lipton tea.My ultimate tea favorites are green tea, Lipton Black Tea, peach tea (the scent) and some tea my kak-ipar gave call 'blue mountain' tea which she bought as some organic store, since I went sakai over the tea at her house (oh, the humiliation).I leave the coffee drinking to Signore.Italians can't live without their espresso.

Beautiful Life said...

Yeah I used to love OOlong tea....tho it's a bit bitter. I love green tea and peach tea - tho I try to stay away from the 3 in 1 kind, too sweet!