Yes coffee can help you to wake up in the morning,

It’s great for catch up with friends.

Yes coffee shops help you unwind a little,

and it’s cool to keep up with trends.

but when life gets real,

whether in shock or grieving,

you want to show you care,

or you need some comforting,

in times of real need,

I think we can all agree,

nothing sounds better than:

″how about a cup of tea?”

I find that drinks are a universal topic. Everyone has a favorite or two. Upon being asked what my drink preferences are, regardless of what drink we're talking about, I usually respond with a quote from While You Were Sleeping (one of my favorite movies): "Oh I don't drink anymore..." (which leaves people to come up with akward comments before I reach for whatever drink we're having and add:) "I don't drink any less either."

Most of my friends are strongly on one side or the other of the Coffee vs. Tea debate. And I always get a kick out of listening to people's snobby arguments about the finest coffee beans and the rarest tea leaves. The same goes for wine people; except that stereotypically, they are the absolute extreme. Then, once you pick a drink, there are categories and opinonated groups within that drink too. For coffee, it's Starbucks' or Dutch Bro's or Pete's or Black Rock's, it's Kona beans or Peaberry beans or Columbian beans. For tea, it's Adiago, or Earl Grey, or Vadham, it's green or black or oolong. Sweetened, unsweetened. Etc. Etc.

I drink both tea and coffee on a daily basis; coffee in the morning and a couple cups of tea at night. Mostly because I hate mornings so coffee helps keep me awake and focused on my work. And I love nights, so tea calms me down and reminds me that normal people sleep at night instead of crying over books and laughing at their own jokes and baking pumpkin bread into the morning hours. I'm not a snob for either drink. They're both delicious and super helpful in their own ways.

If I were to be a snob for any drink, it would most certainly, undoubtedly, absolutely be hot cocoa. Hot cocoa is simply a happy drink. It's for cold, Christmassy days; for watching movies with blankets, or for reading books in the rain. It's for sleepless nights and early mornings. For the lonely people that dance at 3am or for a couchful of kids in striped onesies. It comes tasting gritty and sweet in a styrofoam cup on a snowy day, or rich and thick like spicy chocolate at the adult's only Christmas party. It tastes like memories. While the wine people are stocking up their cellars of aged wine bottles, I'm stocking up on those whipped creams that spray out in star shapes. The coffee people are arguing over the best beans on Earth, and sometimes, I add a little pinch of cinnamon on top of my whipped cream and cocoa. The tea people are dunking their tea bags for the full flavor, and I'm pouring some rainbow sprinkles on my cinnamoned whipped creamed cocoa. I like knowing that the drink is completely unhealthy. There's freedom in not caring, not worrying. I think that's the freedom that little children have. Which is probably why I love hot cocoa best.

Tea

a watery refreshment

a way to wind down after a day

A sweet way

A beautiful soft drink

with flavours of so many

A pop of mint or honey

A kettle wisttling

A preference for night

Coffee

A brown brew

a 5:30 wake up

Just one more cup!

and adiction

a compfort

A bit of suger please

and some cream

oooh some wipped cream

a stir and....

does hot chocolate count?

a preference for morning

coffee is expensive in china. i do a really strobg cup in the morning. i need the jump.

coffee is a faster release of caffeine and you wouldn't want to meet me if i didn't get my fix.

but as I drink my morning cup of ambition, i fill.the thermos with strong tea.

tea is cheap in china. it is also full of caffeine. but releases it slower.

I don't do teabags. I get oolong leaves.

once, a friend invited me to a teashop of a friend of his.

we tasted different kinds of tea, ostensibly different parts of just the same mountain. apprently you can taste the difference.

I couldn't.

neither could I sleep for two nights after.

so to those who pick a side- how you get a proper dose. an unstimulated life is not worth living.

for those who talk down at those who disagree- I say, if your choice is so great, how come a billion peoplw choose the other?

For me it’s tea, every time.

I have honestly used the following examples at work but they would not work with coffee.

Example 1:

Me: “I feel like a twenty-five letter alphabet.”

Colleague 1: “Why?”

Me: “I’m missing a ‘t’.”

Example 2:

Me: “Okay, let’s play a game. I’ll ask three questions and the first one answer wins.”

Colleagues 2 and 3 nod eagerly. Everyone loves an excuse to take an impromptu break.

Me: “What’s the [pause to make seem like this hasn’t been planned] fifth letter of the alphabet?”

Colleague 2: “E!”

Me: “Yes. Well done. Now, what’s the [are they still falling for this dramatic pause?] tenth letter of the alphabet?”

Colleague 2: “I?”

Me: “No.”

Colleague 3: “J?”

Me: “Yes! Oh, it’s close now. One point each and only one question left. Who’s gonna be the winner?”

Colleague 3 almost falls off her chair with the excitement.

Me: “What’s the twentieth letter of the alphabet?” [No need to pause here, I’ve got them hooked.]

Colleague 2, with desperation in his voice: “T?”

Me, holding out my tea mug: “Yes please.”

I didn’t say they were good examples and they’ve yet to actually net me a brew, but they help break up the working day.

The first step to gaining my love for coffee began by ending an addiction to drinking Mountain Dew every day. It was out of hand - I used to keep a 12 pack in my car, and I would drink a can every day on my way to work. I did eventually stop doing this, and some time later I was at work feeling tired (at this point I had a third child, whom was a baby at the time). There was free coffee in the office, and on a whim I tried it and loved it. I like coffee black, so it was healthier than Mountain Dew. Years later when I began teaching, I would make a pot of coffee and drink the whole thing throughout the day. I began getting terrible headaches, and once I cut the coffee from 1 pot a day to 2 cups a day, the headaches were done. I still wanted a caffeine fix in the middle of the day, and that's where green tea came into play. I began drinking green tea from a recommendation on a diet plan I was following. It was an acquired taste, but once I got used to it, the tea did the trick of giving me a boost to get through the rest of the work day. I need to get back on a diet, but I have been enjoying pizzas and cheeseburgers too much lately. But when I am taking better care of myself, a cup of black coffee in the morning, a cup of green tea in the afternoon, and one more cup of black coffee in the evening are all decent choices for a caffeine fix. I'm thinking in a week or so it is time to make some healthier life choices, including getting consistent on the coffee, tea, coffee combo for the extent of my daily caffeine intake....