Comfort

Disclaimer: the things I am about to say make me sound about 30 years older than I am.

I love tea. It is an absolute consumable comfort - the heat, the sweetness, the milky, bold taste make it the perfect way to wake in the morning, relax in the afternoon, or unwind after a long, cold day. By necessity, I've become rather adept at filling my tea kettle and putting the heat on without really waking up. Within about fifteen minutes of climbing out of bed most days, I have a warm cup in my hand, my eyes slowly fluttering open.

At work, we recently uncovered an electric kettle that had been hiding in the depths of our rather dirty "kitchen" cabinets. It was a sensational find, because until then if were we to try to make a cup at the office, we had to heat water in the microwave. As any good black tea drinker will tell you, this method is simply acceptable. Instead, I was stopping at Starbucks each morning for my cup of Awake, because that water is PIPING HOT.

With the discovery of the electric kettle, a friend of mine and I have started afternoon tea. Around 3:30 we put water on for our second (or third, sometimes forth) cup of the day. We'll often have a sweet to go along with it - a cookie or piece of dark chocolate. Heaven.

Here's a recent piece from NPR about tea and all its goodness: