"hot tea" news and stories

Yes, I hate bbq, summer, and Memorial Day. I'm a terrible person.

Of course, I don't hate Memorial Day itself, what it represents, I hate that it signals the start of summer, my least favorite season. I hate summer the way Lost fans hated Nikki and Paolo (yes, everything I do comes back to television). Maybe even more.

Here are the 8 reasons I hate about Memorial Day and summer in general.

Are you a seasonal hot beverage drinker like I am?

I ask this because here we are past the halfway mark of April and I'm still drinking hot tea. This is late for me. I usually stop drinking hot tea around the start of April and start drinking diet soda and iced tea (I don't drink coffee). The weather has been cold and rainy/snowy this month, so my tea drinking has stayed at the same level it was in January. Which I like, of course, but it also worries me because I'd rather switch to drinks like diet soda that won't give me as much daily sugar intake (yeah, I know, I could drink my tea with less sugar or Splenda, but where's the fun in that?). As for hot chocolate, well, that's a fall/winter thing and I stopped that weeks ago.

So readers, are you seasonal hot and cold beverage drinkers too? I remember my mom used to drink hot coffee in the hot summer months too because she read somewhere it was good for you or cooled you down in some way I don't quite understand, but science was never my best subject in school.

I am not a tea drinker -- I would definitely consider myself a coffee addict at three to four cups by noon -- but when I saw this post at Arghyle, I almost considered going out to buy Ineeka teas. Blogger Sal says the tea was good, nothing particularly special, but it was the design of the tea bag that got mine (and his) attention. The tea leaves are not loose, but in individual tea bags that open up with paper arms that can attach to the sides of your cup like a fiter over which you can pour your hot water. So you get the benefit of loose tea leaves, but the convenience of individual bags. Brilliant!

A lot of you gave me some tips for trying to find great-tasting teas that would help me cut down on my daily sugar intake. Thanks again. I took everyone's advice and went on a little tea shopping spree this weekend, and here's what I bought and how they taste.

I went with reader advice and bought two different kinds of Good Earth: Original and Vanilla Chai. Both are nice. The original has a strong cinnamon taste, and while the chai has a strong vanilla flavor and aroma to it, it also has a lot of cinnamon and other spices. But they both taste good. I've had some cinnamon-flavored teas that, well, just tasted like someone took 30 or 40 sticks of Big Red gum and boiled them. These taste really great. I also bought a variety pack of Celestial Seasonings. I've had some flavors of this brand in that past I wasn't too thrilled with, but it's a good tea to keep on hand. I'm going to buy some other brands too and see how they are.

And the best news? With these teas I've cut down from 4-5 packets of sugar to only 1 or 2! Most excellent.

I've always wanted to hold a 1950s-themed party. Have the house decked out in the style of that era, play music from the decade, and even serve food that was popular at parties back then. I don't have my own apartment right now, but when I move in early '07 I think it's something I'll do, probably next December to make it a retro-themed Christmas party.

I came across this recipe for Hot Spiced Orange Tea on a 50s-oriented web site, and it seems perfect for this time of year.