The quest for an elusive teapot
how the seasons dictate my tea-drinking habits
Between tea and coffee, I would probably reach for a cup of coffee about 80% of the time. While Philippines is located in Southeast Asia, it does not quite have the tea-drinking culture that the rest of our East Asian neighbors have. For Filipinos, tea is associated with its medicinal qualities and that is why our tried and tested āsalabatā or ginger tea is our go-to at the first sign of incoming illness.
I still drink my āsalabatā the way I did when I was living back home but with slight variations. Slow and sustainable lifestyle has taught me that I can actually use the cleaned and thin peelings of ginger for my tea while saving the rest of the root for cooking. I drop these ginger peelings in a pot of boiling water and let it simmer for a few minutes so the water is fully-infused. Then, I would choose my mug for the day (my mugs would be another story) and pour the ginger tea there. I use raw honey to sweeten my drink and squeeze a little bit of fresh ācalamansiā (Philippine lime) juice to add flavor when I am craving for something fruity. Since ācalamansiā is a luxury where I live, it got replaced with regular lime or lemon.
Within the last decade, I find myself reaching for tea around this time of year. My body knows what it needs and listening to it has always done me nothing but good things. After the hot chocolate season in the month of December, it has been tea from January to March, especially in the afternoons. After ginger tea, genmai cha is my next favorite. It is not the most expensive and delicate of the Japanese teas because it is the type of tea that merchants and common folk served for themselves back in the day. But, there is nothing wrong with that. Bougie, after all, is not my middle name. What made me fall in love with genmai cha is the comforting and mild flavors from green tea combined with the nutty and warm roasted rice aromas.
After receiving a box of tisane (herbal tea) from my friend in Manila made by a Philippine company called Natureās Apothecary (this is not a sponsored post), I started to consider purchasing a decent Asian-style teapot. The only ones I have were purchased when I was a graduate student and frankly, they are not any good and gives the loose leaf teas a metal-ish taste. I think it is time to acquire something I could keep forever.
Last week, I received a special-edition tea from a curator based in England who partnered with a biodynamic herb farm in Somerset. I loved it! It had hibiscus flower from Senegal, rosehips from Serbia, lemon balm from Bulgaria, cassia bark from Vietnam, ginger root from Peru (magic!), and rose petals from Iran. How beautiful does that sound? This type of tea makes me feel like I have traveled the world with just one sip from my cup.
Now, on the topic of my elusive teapot. I still have not selected one. As mentioned in my previous posts, I am practicing mindful consumption and I push myself to make slow decisions when purchasing something. Is it a need or is it a want? This process of deliberate decision-making even for something as ordinary as a teapot tend to make me value the things I own even more.
If and when I ever did get one, perhaps it deserves a spot here in my newsletter. For now, though, I will leave you with a gentle reminder about intentional actions and decisions because it makes even the most ordinary of things and days unforgettable.
š”How about you?
āWhat is your drink of choice in Winter?
š« Practice slow and deliberate decision-making today, even just for tiny decisions.
š Restack and tag me about the answers that you come up with.
Ooh drinks. I have a wide variety of fruit and flower tea bags. At the moment Iām drinking an apple infusion (teabags). But I have lemon and ginger, rose, mint, camomile, green tea with lemon, and a loose leaf infusion tea with apple and mint. Sometimes I put honey in the apple tea, or the lemon and ginger one. For hot chocolate I sometimes put a sprinkle of ground ginger, or ground cinnamon in. Iāve tried allspice, but it ends up quite grainy. Sometimes I buy little sachets of chocolate powder with salted caramel flavour in. I love the sound of your special tea, it must taste fab. We no longer have a specialist tea and coffee seller in town, sadly.
If itās ordinary tea, it has to be Yorkshire Tea, or Lifeboat Tea, as the bags do two cups.
Love this.I make so many types of teas much like your "ginger tea".All under the classification chai and kashai.
Yet this week here is a recipe I do daily:water boiled with ginger cut into a coin slice pounded with a stone mortar, thrown smashed coin of ginger thrown into boiling water with few fresh cut lemongrass leaves,followed by a spoon of black tea,boiled for 1 minute more then turned off to pour into a mug adding some (1/4 spoon of brown sugar( jaggery) and a few drops of milk clouds...that's my wintery cup this week.