Addiction

It was probably the time when I worked in Hong Kong for 6 months that I developed my tea habit. I really did miss the comforts of Britain at times, and I found myself making lots of cups of tea in the afternoon at work, even though I wasn't really a heavy tea drinker at the time. Ever since then though, the addiction has just gotten worse. I get through an average of 8 large buckets of Earl Grey or PG Tips during a workday, delivered in my trusty Guardian thermos mug, and often supplement that with more Chinese or rooibos tea along the way. In fact, one of the things I miss most about living in China is the availability of hot water everywhere, from corner shops to airports, and the little vacuum flask lined with some tea leaves which I took everywhere.

The journey to Nepal started very well, where the Costa in Bahrain airport served me a small swimming pool of Earl Grey, so big it needed two handles!:

But it all was downhill from there. Nepal is a tea-drinking country, and their chiya is just like my much-liked massala chai from India, but I couldn't get over the overwhelming milkiness of it. I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to milk, and Nepali milk is all a bit rich for me. Similarly, when they offer you a cup of 'milk tea', it is literally a mug of hot milk with a weak tea bag dunked in it. Ming ming ming! Whilst in Naranghat, I had to content myself with one teeny cup of black tea in the morning and one in the evening, it's a miracle I wasn't more grumpy that week.

In Pokhara, I did manage to find a substitute. Lemongrass tea was everywhere here, taking me back to lovely Busaba. Their lemongrass is not like the tough stalks we have in England though, but lovely green and leafy, turning the tea into a nice green tinge:

I didn't feel very well in the last few days in Pokhara though, and I do suspect that it was the lack of caffeine. I do have a funny relationship with caffeine - I can hardly drink a cup of coffee without feeling a bit 'weird', yet the vast amounts of tea must mean I am constantly on a caffeine drip. In any case, it wasn't until our last meal in Kathmandu that I found Earl Grey tea in Nepal. Again, it was at my favourite Roadhouse Cafe, it was probably the tea rather than the food that made me like it so much.

Bliss!

This post was brought to you with the help of a cup of Xiamen jasmine tea.