Tea Time!

For those that knew me before, before this experience, and before tea entered my life with any kind of great consistency, I was definitely known as a coffee drinker. A dedicated, highly-trained, coffee drinker, sporting a Starbucks Gold membership, having seasonal favorite drinks, and caffeinating at every given opportunity.

When I was a child, I remember the distinct smell of coffee beans and how they repulsed me. But some point in my high school years I began to venture into chocolatey coffee drinks and never turned back. 

It also didn't help that my high school had a coffee shop where cups of coffee were sold for a mere $1. I would often run to this shop before class, during class, or on bathroom breaks, to indulge in this delicious treat. When I was a lab aid, I even had a teacher that would send me on coffee runs for her. I became her own personal barista as I fixed her coffee and brought it back to her perfectly sweetened, that wonderful caramel color, and splenda'd to perfection.

Over the years, my dedication to coffee and love for the drink has grown. As I get older and have to study more, I find that that I get less sleep and need more artificial energy. This resulted in my getting a Keurig machine last year and my addiction being satisfied multiple times during the day.

Then I came to Ireland. While Ireland is absolutely wonderful in many respects, they don't even use coffee makers in their homes. These people opt for instant coffee and think that it is similar to the real thing! 

Well, it's alright, I'm flexible; I knew from the start that I would just have to spend more time in coffee shops, and have my coffee fix and study time fulfilled out of the apartment. But this takes me to another problem: Irish stores do not stay open late, and I never start studying before 5pm anyways (which is when 99% of the coffee shops here close).

Therefore another solution needed to be found. And this solution was found my first grocery trip in Ireland and then neglected for nearly a month until I saw is again on the very back of the shelf: tea.

This is not your ordinary, trying-to-be-healthy, dirty-tasting-water, kind of tea. Instead it is black tea prepared the Irish way (loaded with cream and sugar until you are essentially drinking sweet, tea-flavored, milk). Turns out this stuff is great, relatively cheap, and full of energy! Thus, the conversion began.

Not that I will ever turn away from coffee entirely, but tea has become a worthy substitute in this world of freeze-dried coffee. My Irish roommate Deirdre swears by it, as she drinks nearly 4-5 "cups a scald" every day. Even my mom became obsessed when my parents visited and she was appalled by the lacking coffee game in this country.

While I write this post from Starbucks, drinking a venti iced caramel macchiato, I happily reflect on a beautiful aspect of studying abroad - assimilation. They love tea, I should try to love tea, I learn to love tea, success.

Yours,

The Opinionated Lassie