Coffee or Tea?

​If you were to ask the average American the age-old question of coffee vs. tea, you might be surprised by the response. With a coffee shop appearing on almost every corner in the city and almost every town having at least 1 name-brand chain, you would probably say that coffee is the drink of choice. But, shockingly, 62% drink coffee while a whopping 159 million people choose tea.
I will admit that I love a good cup of Joe, but there is nothing like settling in with a steaming cup of tea and a good book. The part of tea that I really enjoy is the variety. Depending on your mood, you can choose a green, matcha, black, oolong, asam, purerh; the options are endless. All teas are not the same, and the benefits of each blend vary greatly.
You can change up the country of origin for a coffee or choose to embellish it as a flat white, a latte, black or sweet, but the underlying flavor stays the same. With tea, your choice greatly alters the flavor.
You might wonder why this sudden need to reintroduce tea. Well, I am knee-deep in the novel The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See. In the book, she talks about the history of the Chinese teas. I am loving how I learned about old-tree tea vs. young-tree tea. I did not know that there is a difference between fermented naturally and fermented chemically (of course, there would be a taste difference). I kinda want to run to the store and start experimenting.
I often tell people that a book is noteworthy if the messages stay with you or resonate with something in your life. This book is like a journey to China- exploring one of the things I love.  I don’t often recommend books because everyone’s taste is so different, but I will say that if you have every had a wonderful cup of tea, you should pick up this book, brew yourself a cuppa and enjoy.