Best Tea of 2009

It’s truly disappointing that I can’t just use the best packaging from 2005 because I would absolutely love to showcase the pill bottle I received from the pharmacist after my cat bite incident. The pharmacist so cleverly added “MEEEEOUCH!” to the label on the bottle, and I’ve kept it even after using up the prescription as a momento. So, I just skipped the best packaging prompt (kind of like I’ve done with about half of the prompts so far).

I gave up caffeine when I got pregnant. I did the same when I was pregnant with my daughter simply because I’d just prefer not to risk a negative outcome. (I had three miscarriages between my first two children. So when I got the hoped for positive when we got pregnant with my daughter — the only planned baby of the family — I was decidedly terrified she wouldn’t stick.) No caffeine meant no regular tea. Now, I cannot start my day without my cup of tea. I wake up feeling like a frog’s jumped down my throat and beated up my vocal cords. I could realistically call someone and pretend to be well into my senior years. The warm fluid clears everything up, and I return to sounding like Minnie Mouse. The caffeine is a help, but it’s not as important as the warmth. Most herbal infusions don’t really suit my tastes for the morning. Luckily, I knew about white tea, which is mostly caffeine-free (whatever’s left is even smaller than the amount in the approved two cups of coffee per day). When brewed properly and sweetened with a small spoonful of orange blossom honey, it’s a very delightful drink. For many months this year, white tea accompanied my bowl of cereal every morning.