Sunday, November 11, 2007

Tea and Water

I've recently discovered (re-discovered?) the joys of tea, particularly green tea. For whatever reason, I average a cup of tea almost every day. Last year (and all the years before) I almost never drank tea, but I really like tea, almost as much as coffee. However, tea is far easier to prepare: boil water, put some tealeaves in a cup (no teabags here), and then pour hot water in. Then let it cool until you can drink it without burning your tongue. Good coffee (or the ones I really like) I can only get in a coffee shop, like Starbucks or something . . . and that can get expensive.

Milk tea or bubble tea is also really good, but it takes some effort (particularly to make the bubbles - tapioca takes a while to "cook"). Milk tea I make or drink only when I have time/am bored. Bubble tea I go to a tea shop to get, like Bubble Island or something. It's such an Asian thing, haha. But it's really really good, in my opinion. Plus in a shop like Bubble Island, you can get many different flavors added to it like strawberry, blueberry, mango, papaya, etc.

Okay, now I've a peculiarity when drinking water. When I drink water by itself, I like it either at room temperature or slightly colder. I generally don't like drinking cold/ice water by itself. I have a large bottle of water in my room that I periodically drink from when I'm too lazy to walk to the kitchen/fridge to get water. So that bottle of water's always at room temperature. My roommate, DvF-M, simply can't understand this or why I do this (he likes his water cold).

I pretty much only drink cold water with food (and even then I don't like it that cold), and I only drink hot water if it's used to mix with something like tea, honey, or coffee. Oh! Hot honey water is amazing! Especially when you have a cold or persistent cough. It helps soothe the throat and clear the sinuses (a little). It's really good at warming you up on cold days. I also drink it (or tea) when I'm stressed because it sometimes helps me calm down. So yeah, put a tablespoon of honey in a cup of hot water, stir, and enjoy.

In retrospect, this was a very random and rather pointless post. Oh well.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like loose-leaf teas and strong Starbucks coffee too. I don't mind cold water, but I don't mind room temperature water either. However I've never tried bubble tea; I don't find the idea very appealing.

Mike said...

But these are the random facts we wouldn't know about you... haha.

Nice post.

Matt in Argyle said...

I love tea. You're right, it is a good drink to have if you need to de-stress.

Aek said...

To mark: Aww, don't knock bubble tea before trying it. You can try it without bubbles, or in a lot of places you can substitute it with mango or lycee bits. Fruit's better anyway.

To mike: Haha, thanks. I'm loaded with random facts (and sometimes, not much else).

To matt-cns: Mmm, tea is good. It's going to be a stressful week, so likely a lot of tea for me. :)

Mr. X said...

i love tapioca drinks! do you know how to make it? or do you buy it already made, then boil it yourself? i've never made it, but i'd like to try. i usually just go to a teahouse to get mine.

Aek said...

Make tapioca from scratch? No, I don't know how to do that. I've boiled them myself once but other than that, I go to a teahouse/tea shop for it.