Once upon a time, I hated tea, and if you’d told me I would write blog posts about my love for it, I would have thought you were ridiculous.
But then I grew up a bit, and wrote this blog post all about how I forced myself to like tea, just so that I could have something hot to drink in winter.
It worked out really well, because now I love tea very much, and I drink it no matter what season it is.
I was passionately committed to my Green Ginger Pear Tea, but one fateful day…..we ran out.
A friend came over to drink tea one evening, and requested peppermint tea. In my head, I thought, “That’s totally gross.” It smelled like candy canes, and I was always the weird kid who thought candy canes were disgusting. I had no desire to drink an entire mug of liquid candy cane.
But since the idea was for all of us to sit around drinking tea together and bonding, I didn’t really have a choice.
By the end of the cup of tea, I had come to the conclusion that it wasn’t too bad. I drank peppermint tea a few more times before we restocked with my beloved Green Ginger Pear Tea, and it had the chance to grow on me.
I returned to my old favorite, and was drinking green tea more than ever, but it was a difficult time of life. I was continually dealing with sleepless nights and was not feeling very good in general, seeing as the body kinda needs sleep in order for anything to work properly.
Bless the person who finally told me that green tea has CAFFEINE in it!!! (And who was it that had told me green tea was naturally decaffeinated??! Good thing I can’t remember!)
Turns out green tea has more caffeine in it than black tea! What??!
Maybe I never actually had legitimate insomnia. Maybe I just had a case of Green Ginger Pear Tea.
Now I am wholly devoted to Peppermint Tea. Green Ginger Pear Tea is a distant, sleepless memory.
What’s your favorite hot drink? Have you ever forced yourself to learn to like something?
(This post of part of my series, “34 Days of Favorites. If you want to read more, go here.)
Ordinary Days 
I didn’t have to force myself to like tea. But I did force myself to enjoy it without any sweeteners in it. I used to add like TONS of honey or sugar to me tea. I like it much better without.
Isn’t it amazing how we need to force ourselves to like something, and then it turns out to be amazing? Even better than what we originally liked?!
I LOVE tea! My father is a tea drinker, my mother drinks coffee – I took after my dad. Like the standard Earl Grey but really, really enjoy Good Earth Sweet & Spicy Herbal Tea -soooooo good steeped nice and strong (I can only find it in the states or in my pantry, which is well stocked!). I also really love a cup of hot chocolate made with milk and Nesquick chocolate powder. However, my very favorite hot beverage would be chai tea made from scratch. Clay Oven has a fantastic chai but I also make it at home occasionally – it turns out a little different each time but oh-so-yummy! When I don’t take the time to make it from scratch, I also enjoy Stash’s Decaffinated Chai or Stash’s Double Spice Chai.
Chai tea made from scratch! My goodness, you never stop impressing me!:)
My favorite hot drink has to be a black cherry decaf mocha from Starbucks. They don’t make them anymore, but there was one blissful winter where I drank more than I would like to admit! Since they no longer make them, I have to settle for a Peppermint Mocha when I go there (and I go there more often than I should…it’s my dirty little shopping treat…if I have to be at the mall, I must have a Starbucks in my hand). They’re like drinking a chocolatey candy cane and coffee all at the same time. That’s my idea of bliss. I also love tea and just received one of those really cool tea steepers from David’s Tea…the kind where you steep the tea in the little pitcher and then put the pitcher over your mug and press down so the tea can filter right into your cup. Yup, that’s fun. I also love Peppermint tea. It’s always been one of my favorites. In terms of something that I have made myself like…that would be cottage cheese. When I was a kid I hated the stuff, and hated vereniki. It was so gross to me! The rest of my family loved them, though, so they weren’t going anywhere. I kept at it until I could enjoy them. And now I love cottage cheese!
Oh, Juls, you’re one of those super trendy-looking shoppers, walking around with a Starbucks in hand! Before I liked tea, I was tempted to walk around with an empty Starbucks cup in my hand, just for the experience!
Ask if they still have it. My fav was a raspberry mocha they offered for one season. Turns out, they still have the syrup, so I can still order it even though it’s not on the menu board.
Ha! Super-trendy? With my hair back in a ponytail, no make-up, majorly pregnant and pushing a double stroller, I think not! Thanks for thinking of me that way, though. And I so wish they still had the black cherry syrup. I have asked so many times you think they would have brought it back by now! 🙂 Oh, and you could always order a tea at Starbucks so you could still walk around with that cup!
Oh, Juls. it doesn’t matter what your hair looks like, or what size of stroller you’re pushing – you always look very cute and stylish to me!
Pingback: 34 Days of Favorites: Most-Used Birthday Gift | Ordinary Days
Pingback: 10 Years of Blogging | Ordinary Days