Coffee and Tea

There used to be a time when I couldn't tell the difference between tea and coffee. It was many years ago, but still rather inexcusable, especially for someone whose parents make tea everyday. I blame the ignorance partially on the way most places disguise both drinks with a lot of milk and sugar and partially on the fact that I was young and stupid.

I don't have a story about my first cup of coffee; in fact, I don't even remember when and where I began drinking it, but I'm certain it was milk coffee with sugar. Once I was somehow able to tell it apart from tea, it wasn't long before I looked upon it with reverence. I'd grown up drinking milk while the grown-ups drank tea (without milk and sugar, of course) so coffee was quite the novelty.

Coffee became my drink of choice, transmogrifying from sweet and milky to bitter and black. It wasn't long before I'd completely turned my back on tea. However, things change. For a while, coffee was the most fascinating thing in the world. But then something happened - so sneakily that I didn't even realize at first (or maybe I just didn't want to believe it). It may have simply been a period of bad coffee, but my body seemed to be rejecting it, so I turned to tea who was just waiting to step in and save the day(s).

That revelation might have been the effect of all the coffee in my system. I had a friend tell me once that there was "too much blood in your caffeine system". However, I was convinced that my Assamese roots were taking over and punishing me for straying from my natural path, so I decided to make up for lost time.

I found I really enjoyed tea. So much that I didn't even miss coffee for a while. Oh, and all you people hating on green tea must know this: green tea is NOT what you get in those awful tea bags people use because they're trying to lose weight. In fact, I'm not sure those have tea in them at all. I suspect it's tea-scented sawdust. Anyway, it's just tasteless marketing.
Green tea is beautiful, and drinking it is a sublime experience. Try it. Can't guarantee you'll love it, especially if you're a sweet milk tea person, but I can promise it's fragrant and flavourful and not hate-worthy at all.

Most people are firm about their identities as tea drinkers or coffee drinkers, and both sides will try to convince you that their drink is undoubtedly better. If we're talking sweet and milky, I'm Switzerland - neutral because I dislike both. But if it's just a general coffee versus tea debate, I'll most likely side with the minority to balance it out a little.

Truth is, I need both. Strong coffee in the morning, light tea through the rest of the day. If I seem more excited at the mention of coffee, it's only because finding coffee the way I like it seems much easier here than finding good tea.

Coffee is infatuation. Tea is love. Both are wonderful.

British vs. American

I was reading a friend's blog post http://quillonparchment.blogspot.in/2013/03/load-of-cra-i-mean-tosh.html and typing out a lengthy comment when I realized
1) I don't want to rant too much on someone else's post
2) Even if I do, making a post of it is a better idea. I get to write as much as I want and be credited with getting off my lazy ass (no wait, I'm still sitting) and writing another post.
3) "I always think of a third thing when I'm listing stuff."

For those of you who didn't bother reading that post, it was about... eh, if you didn't bother, I won't bother. And if you're smart, you'll figure it out. Here's what I have to say:

1. Coffee is awesome!
If you're not a coffee drinker and are complaining about it, you don't know what you're talking about. If you are, you know that no matter what grouses you may claim to have with coffee, you'll go running back to it sooner or later (probably sooner). If you're a snob like me, you'll probably look down upon the lesser coffees, but you will never hesitate to appreciate the wonderful impacts of the drink and thank the plants and the goats and everyone associated with making coffee what it is today.

As for the popularity of the drink, coffee has been a staple drink in most of the south for many years while tea has been (and still is) prevalent in the north and north-east.
Secondly, from what I've noticed, good tea is a lot more expensive than good coffee, making it available to fewer people.
Lastly, coffee gives you a better caffeine kick than tea and has a stronger taste, so I suppose lots of people feel like they're getting more.
All this assuming you don't pollute your tea or coffee with milk and sugar and other such nonsense.

However, I haven't seen too many tea chains open up. Bloody Coffee Day (happy, Sanjana?) is taking over our cities. Being someone who also enjoys good tea, I agree, poor chai.

2. I've never actually heard people use "period" instead of "full stop". I've only seen it in jokes. Or when people use an extra word to make a point. *cue laughter* Also, Brit shows and movies today seem way more liberal in their use of "that god awful word that rhymes with 'duck'" than American ones of similar genres.

3. Isn't "maths" much harder to pronounce than "math"?

4. Come on, James Bond has been played by several people. If you don't like a couple of them, it doesn't matter that much because you like the others, so Bond's reputation hasn't suffered too badly. But if you don't like Robert Downey Jr., all he can do is put on his Iron Man suit and hope it makes you like him. Besides, Sean Connery, who was arguably the best Bond ever, has his distinctive Scottish accent (which IS technically Brit, but I think British implied English in that post).

Now I'm not trying to say all things Brit are better than all things American, but here are my problems with the Americans taking over.

1. BBC Entertainment cancelled! On television across the entire country!! Lack of demand, apparently. What a pitiful state of affairs! That channel had the most beautiful wildlife documentaries I've ever seen on television. And Doctor Who. And this:

How cruel one must be to deny people the right to experiencing the sheer brilliance and awesomeness that is Sherlock! How DARE they!

2. Quick, how many British music artists can you name? (I'm talking about pop/rock kind of artists, so if you thought of a bunch of classical musicians, I'm afraid I probably wouldn't know who you were talking about. But you could tell me so that I would know.)
Unless you actually make the effort (or were introduced to them by some happy accident), you probably don't know much about anyone besides Madonna, Adele, The Wanted, and One Direction.
I'm not saying it's your fault; I'm saying we don't get to hear as much of/about them as, say, Taylor Swift. Or any of the dozens of American artists I'm sure you can think of in the next few seconds. Which is wrong.

3. Spelling. Don't get me started.

4. Lonely Planet sold to Americans by Brits! It's Lonely Planet, so it should still be awesome, but I don't find this reassuring at all. The Brits there are probably kicking themselves and singing an awful Akon song right now.