Lovin my Cuppa

I don't come from a family of die-hard tea lovers (mom's a Turkish coffee person and dad's an American coffee dude). Actually, you would rarely see tea on the table at our house unless we have people over.
On the other hand, Ammanis are known for their love for tea. But during my four years of college, it didn't quite rub off on me. As a college student you don't really do a lot of visiting! And the occasional cup of tea here or there wasn't enough to make a lasting impression. Oh and it certainly didn't help that as a roomie I had a sis who thinks hot liquids in cups/mugs are only supposed to be used as hand warmers!!

However, now that I'm away from Amman for the most part of the year, the times when I am there involve a lot of home visits. And visiting homes in Amman can only mean one thing: Tea on the table. And I must say, over the past summer, it has grown on me.

It was a gradual process. First I started to expect it, then I started to enjoy it, then actually look forward to it. At the end, now brace yourself, I actually decided to invest in a box of Lipton tea! So for the first time in the history of my Odd-hours-shopping-at-plaza, tea made it on my list!

How hard can it be right? It's just tea. Oh and I even know which brand I want, easy-peasy. I scanned the shelves for the word "Lipton"- oh here it is. Oh here's another. wait, that's also lipton. What the..???
Yellow Label. Earl Grey. Green tea. Purple Tea. God knows what else! I was lost. I just wanted tea. The normal brown thing people gave me at their homes.

A friend in need is a friend indeed! At the end I called up my friend, who works in a lab. In the background around her I could hear stuff like: "is the culture ready?" "Quick quick the patient is here" "WHERE IS THE TEST TUBE", but that didn't faze me. She actually listened to me freak out about what tea brand to buy and didn't even hang up, now THAT is a test of a true friend! (sure, she later called me back and called me nuts and crazy, but that's besides the point).

These days, I'm more of a green tea with honey person. I love it. And now that I've come across those articles on BBC on how great tea is (black, green, all's good!), this newbie tea-lover won't be going anywhere;)