OctPoWriMo Day 28: Tea

I'm British, so of course there HAD to be a prompt about tea at some point.

Crazy as it may now seem, though, despite being British I don't think I liked tea until I was about 19! My mum and dad always had theirs very weak and milky during my childhood (and my mum still does) and I just never saw the appeal of that. It just tasted like warm milk with a faint background of tea (if you really concentrated). Just...blech. Not for me. So I was a committed coffee drinker probably from the age of 12 or 13, and never really gave tea another thought until the glory of the second-year freshers fair at university. Anyone who's been to a British university (I don't know if it's the same in the US or elsewhere) knows that freshers fair only means one thing...FREE STUFF and lots of it. Pizza, pens, you name it. And, in my second year...tea bags.

Never one to let a good free thing go to waste, I made the tea and I drank it. I can't remember if I drank it black or with milk. But I discovered that I liked it. I suspect I started off with a smidgin of milk. Over time I have gradually reduced the amount of milk and now am officially the easiest person in the world to make tea for: chuck the tea bag in and leave it there. No milk. No sugar. Just give me a spoon so that I can fling the tea bag out when I am ready (which, depending on the tea bag, could be never). Some brands of tea are of course more finely calibrated than this. Birchall, for one, can be relied upon: if it says 2-3 minutes' brewing time, it means it. And as well as branching out into the wonderful world of fruit teas, I can also be found supping on Lapsang Souchong during an afternoon tea in a fancy hotel in London, or buying first flush Darjeelings from Twinings as soon as they hit the sale stands.

So how do you make yours? What is tea to you? Whether you love it or hate it, let your poem today be about how you make it, and make it yours (or, at least, make it for other people).

Word prompts

tannin

jade

russet

porcelain

steam

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions; you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants' work, share the hashtag #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you.