Hi Everyone, Cocoa, coffee, Milo, Ovaltine, Horlicks, hot chocolate, Bournvita, Lipton, anything to which we add hot water, sugar and milk, we call tea. If you want to ask someone for a nice cup of tea you’d better be clear if you want Milo-tea, coffee-tea, Ovaltine-tea or, my favourite phrase, tea-tea – tea-tea is the one the rest of the world calls tea -Darjeeling, Earl Grey, Pekoe or maybe just a little bag of Typhoo.
The British made a national obsession out of tea, George Orwell went as far as to create eleven rules for making tea (http://www.booksatoz.com/witsend/tea/orwell.htm) and maybe that’s where our interest in tea came from. But, like everything we got from the British, we changed the rules to suit our taste. We have our own rules for drinking tea.
It seems my Mom has been the guardian of the tea laws in our family. When I was growing up tea making in our home could be very frustrating and, I’m not ashamed to say, there were often moments of resentment – at least on my part. My mother was frustrated with my sister and me and our inability to make her a good cup of tea according to her tea laws, and we were frustrated that our efforts never seemed good enough. Mom liked her tea strong, two level teaspoons of sugar, milk and the temperature to be very warm, never hot, warm! But she didn’t want it at room temperature either! She’d instruct us that the boiling water be poured into the cup, half-full and left to steep. Sugar and milk is then added followed by some tap water to cool down the tea. Stir, discard the tea bag and serve. Seems simple enough huh? It never was!
Pat and I seemed to constantly mess up the tea, we’d sometimes forgetfully add more hot water in the cup than was necessary so by the time we added the sugar and milk, there was no room in the cup for the extra water to cool down the tea. Then we seemed not to know when exactly the tea had steeped enough for the strength of flavour mom desired. And then there was the milk and sugar issue. Sometimes we’d not put enough milk in the tea and mom would ask, “The cow’s dead?” or if we put too much milk, “This tea is white like an angel’s bed-gown!”
There were other laws of tea handed down by the women in my family. For example, you had to have some kind of tea to start your day, even if you didn’t eat anything for breakfast you had to have tea. You could have any type of tea for breakfast except Milo-tea. The only time we were allowed to have Milo-tea was at night before going to bed. We were told that Milo makes you sleepy so only have it a night. I honestly don’t know if there was any truth to that, I think we psychologically felt sleepy because we were told the Milo would make us sleepy!
When it came to milk, the guidelines were as follows: for regular green tea, canned evaporated milk as it made the tea creamier; this same milk also worked for Milo, Ovaltine, Hot chocolate, cocoa, Horlicks and Bournvita. Herbal teas were drunk without milk, if any milk was added, it was always pasteurized and only a few drops. Coffee was had with the powdered coffee creamer. However, we kids were generally not allowed to drink coffee. It was only on Christmas mornings that we were allowed to have coffee.
Apart from all the established commercial teas, we also have bush tea. Bush tea is a combination of leaves from various herbs, fruits and vegetable trees that are sun-dried and sold in bunches at markets all across the region. It is believed to rid the body of many ills and offer cures in place of treatments by modern medicine, from colds to stomach aches, from swollen joints to headaches. You name it and someone of my mom’s generation will say, “You need to drink some bush tea.” Well, the only bush tea she ever made for us was lemongrass tea, which, I love, love, love. Mom used to call it fever grass tea. We never had it often because it was a scarce item. When this tea is being made, the aroma envelopes the kitchen, you feel all warm inside and just content to stand against the wall and slide down to the floor and sit and wait for the tea to be done. There never seemed to be enough, each one of us got only one cup.
Mom also introduced us to a natural cocoa-chocolate tea, which she had been introduced to by her Barbadian friends. I wish I could by this cocoa stick and send one for each of you. It is locally made in the Eastern Caribbean islands – St Vincent and the Grenadines and St Lucia are noted for their cocoa sticks. You make the cocoa-chocolate tea by boiling a piece of the cocoa stick with bay leaves and a piece of cinnamon stick. I swear to you, you’ve never had cocoa like this before. And when it comes time to drink it, don’t worry with fancy cups, get a nice big enamel cup like they used to have long ago. Trust me, you’ll need it.
I recently made a discovery at the market here in Barbados. I’ve found a lemon-scented herb that I am still trying to get the name of. I asked the vendor selling it what it is called, but he said he’s not sure. He said it’s lemon balm but it isn’t, the leaves look nothing like that of lemon balm. This herb-bush makes a fragrant and aromatic tea that can seriously rival the lemon grass tea, no kidding. Visit the blog, www.tasteslikehome. org and see if you can help me identify the plant.
Despite the years of learning the laws of tea from the women in my family, I rarely make my own tea these days. My housemate, Susan, makes the tea the way I like it – strong with some good brown sugar and milk; warm, never hot. The other morning she brought me a cup of tea that looked a little dark. I was shocked to hear myself say, “Wait, de cow dead?!”
I have become my mother!
Cynthia
tasteslikehome@gmail.com
www.tasteslikehome.org
