Quiet Tea

For me morning is most definitely made for coffee. I like mine large and strong, with raw heavy cream or (lately, since my transition to Paleoh-la-la) with coconut milk. just a splash: lightish but not sweet.

I'm nursing; my kid needs no coffee and neither do I, past noon. So in the afternoons I drink tea. I picked this one up today at the little family market in town.

I will admit it was the tin and not the flavor that caught my eye. In general, I try to drink tisanes or more nutritive herbal infusions. (I'm trained as an herbalist; I well know the value of a sludgy, thick herbal brew.)

But I bought this, because: wouldn't you? I was delighted to open the tin and find sweet little organza sachets of sweetly-scented goodness.

Lovely vanilla, bergamot, and. . .something else. I can't pinpoint it, but the result is delightful. 

Last spring I took a trip to Yosemite with my little family and my belle-famille. We stayed in cabins on the Ahwahnee Hotel grounds and had access to all those lovely trails and libraries and afternoon gimlets by the pool. One of the things I brought home with me was an afternoon tea habit that lasted well into that summer. I would make a nice snack (often crackers and sardines) and use an antique cup and saucer from my collection. I'd generally serve this tea as my husband was arriving home from work at 6 and this small meal would tide us over until the baby was sleeping and we ate our late dinner at 9:30 or 10.

Now we are in the suburbs and husband arrives later than 6. The baby is a toddler who requires a daily rhythm, so we aim for a respectable 7pm dinner time together. I still have a tea habit, but it's a slapdash mug at whenever happens to be convenient.

A more conscious moment of quiet (served in a lovely little china cup) will be a nice addition to this sweet life I am creating. It seems to me that rituals are key to an elegant life. What are some of yours?