Thursday 7 March 2013

Tea or Coffee - Thirsty Thursday

This post is part of The Chennai Bloggers Club's Thirsty Thursday series initiated to keep the spirit of blogging alive and challenging.

Filter kaapi is of paramount importance in any tambrahm family. Even mentioning the word tea is sacrilege. Until my early teens, my fluid intake was Maltova and on rare occasions the quintessential filter kaapi. The rich aroma of fresh brew would always make me beg my mom for at least 1 sip of the kaapi served in a tumbler and dabara.

And then, a family vacation to Cunnoor happened. And that's where tea happened. What better place to taste tea than a tea estate itself! We'd been to my aunt's friend's house - I still remember her name - Padma.  It was a mini bungalow of sorts and she had us seated near the dining table and served tea in cups. Perhaps my first experience with cups as well as tea. I gingerly sipped the tea, for I knew not what tea would taste like, until then. I can still taste that tea after all these years, as if it was a few hours ago. I do not know what brand it was or how she made it. But all I know is I liked tea. And, I have never been able to reproduce that flavor till date.

From then on, it's been a journey to unravel quite a few mysteries of the humble tea. I even attended a workshop on tea tasting a few months ago. I prefer the kadak chai made with milk and I do not like the chai masala.

A few years ago, I discovered green tea and its benefits. And a few weeks ago, I discovered fruit infused tea. I was at a friend's place for lunch and she served mango cinnamon orange flavored tea. I was hooked and smitten. Twinings and Typhoo have such varied flavors but I couldn't find the aforementioned one anywhere here in Chennai.

The last couple of weeks, my mornings and evenings are spent with green tea (with orange infusion) and a cranberry orange infused fruit tea!

Bottomline: I love my tea but my loyalties always lie with the filter kaapi! (in fact my ring tone is the famous leo kaapi tune composed by ARR and the advert starring Arvind Swamy *drool*)




14 comments:

  1. Good write up Deeps. I love the part about your ringtone and Aravind Swamy ;)

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    1. haha! Seriously, he was drool worthy in that ad!

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  2. super post.. but sadly i don't drink either tea or the world famous kapi..:) :( ....

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  3. My gawd! Is it so sacrilegious even to mention tea? I grew up on a diet of everything - Milk, Tea and Coffee but I like my Coffee better. I am a Green Tea drinker as well. The fruity flavours you have mentioned sounds yum. I should try them. And any given day, Earl Grey and Twinings are simply superb.

    Joy always,
    Susan

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  4. Nice post :-) I am a hard core filter coffee drinker. I have had fruit infused teas in the past, but the concoction that you have mentioned here sounds tempting!!

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  5. Am this Kaapi Guy anytime.. My anyday pick would be 60% peaberry and 40% Plantation A with no chicory !! Aaah.. sorgam!!! Good one Deepa :)

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  6. Cool..

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    Bensie Dorien.

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  7. Every java programmer is a coffee addict...that must tilt the scales some :)

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  8. I love my coffee too,specially my morning filter coffee...

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  9. Nice post :)

    Congratulations !!! Your blog has just won the Liebster award :) you are one among others :) For more details do check the link in my blog and follow the instructions :) Keep blogging !!
    http://sushlaventulip06.blogspot.in/2013/03/the-liebster-blog-award.html

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  10. Congrats, You have been nominated for the Liebster Award. The nominator is none other than the awesome me :P

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  11. If you want proper tea don't go for brands like Twinings, Earl Grey, Tetley etc, go for the genuine lose handpicked green tea leaves from either Assam or Giddapahar and Makaibari regions of Darjeeling, they taste and smell much better, and remember never use sugar to sweeten your tea, it is advisable to use Himalayan Honey as a sweetener for perfect taste, and avoid adding milk to tea, it destroys the taste and aroma of the tea.

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Munch on....