Friday, October 17, 2008

Tea for Two?

One of the most thrilling things about my husband's return from India was his announcement that he had been drinking hot tea every day and wanted to keep up the habit. Hello! Music to my ears! So every morning for a week I made two cups of tea. Call me Mrs. Happy To Serve. On the first day I pulled up a place for him at the table where Jackson and I enjoy our breakfast. Jackson happily pointed out "Mommy's teaf!" and "Daddy's teaf!" How precious. That turned out to be a one time only event. Hubs' mornings are too rushed for that.

It was not long before my rose colored glasses started hurting my head and I began recognizing the truth. Each morning I found two thirds of the tea still remaining when I dumped out his cup. I tried not to be bothered, but it pained me! One third of a cup = not worth the tea bag. I was sharing my precious imported tea bags with someone who clearly did not appreciate them. So I gently confronted my husband about it.

Babe, do you not like your tea? Are you afraid to tell me?

No, Prin. I like the tea. Thank you for making it. I guess if you could add a little bit more sugar that would be good.


Great. Adjustment made.

Still, I kept finding mostly full cups of tea lying around my house each morning.

Hubs, seriously, I think your problem is that you're waiting too long to drink it and then it doesn't taste good.

No, babe, I like the tea.


After a week I felt that my tea efforts were not justifiable. Something was off but I couldn't figure out what the problem was. Convinced that Hubs was lying to me about liking the tea, I announced that I would no longer be making him tea unless he asked me for it.

Why, babe? Do you think I don't like it?

Um, YES!


This morning Curt walked into the kitchen just as I was getting my tea cup out of the cupboard. A wave of generosity crashed into me and I offered him some tea. He said yes. I was happy. I made the tea, took it to him in the bathroom where he gets ready, and went back to the table to enjoy my own. Twenty-something minutes later he walks back into the kitchen with the cup, just now drinking it. I'm not sure what my face looked like exactly, but it was probably similar to how it would have looked if I had caught Beckham red-handed when he ate Missy's chocolate chip pumpkin cookies. He saw my shock and dismay. Then I got the confession.

Babe, this is how I drink it. I like to let it get lukewarm and then I can gulp it down.

My fellow tea drinkers, is that not a sacrilege? What, does he think this is iced tea? If I were dead I'd be rolling in my grave.

26 comments:

boomama said...

Sister, I hate to tell you, but I think as far as your hubby's tea drinking is concerned you'd do just as well to pour some Luzianne from a jug into a coffee mug and pop it in the microwave for 15 seconds.

In other words: Curtis Jones is my kind of tea drinker. :-)

Groovewoman said...

LUKEWARM HOT TEA!! Oh NO NO NO!! That is ALL Wrong, He must fix that and quick! Do we need to conduct classes on how Hot Tea should be drank? Cause I'll come down to Houston and do it myself...I will.. I'll do it! :D (hehehe)

Groovewoman♫

Holly said...

In Curt's defense, that is exactly how I drink it. It may be that my roots spring from a little town in the north--Brighton, IL--not far from MO.

Then again, I am weird. :) I got to Texas as soon as I could, when you were about two. Hee!

But I do like my coffee very hot.

Melinda said...

Somethin's dern wrong about this, that's for certain!

Drink it HOT, man...HOT!

Michele said...

You are too funny! Sorry Amanda, but I am with Curt. I drink my coffee and tea lukewarm. I am so afraid it will scold my sensitive tongue. Actually in the morning when I pour my coffee I put 2 cubes of ice in. Please don't keep rolling in your grave over this:)

Yoli said...

That is so funny! And it is extra sweet that he calls you "prin"!! I've got to get to work to get my hubby to call me that. :)

Stephanie Kay said...

I'm with Boomama. If he doesn't really care, serve up the cheap and save the good expensive stuff for special occasions. Most days my tea ends up lukewarm but it's not by choice. It's the conspiracy among my children! This morning I ate soggy cereal (ugh!) and drank lukewarm tea (ugh!). I have a dream of one day enjoying my breakfast as it's meant to be consumed!!

bethany said...

I'm a tea girl too! (my favorite's Chai with mocha) I'm with you on the tea being HOT! I don't know how your honey can drink it lukewarm...yucky! Lukewarm is not a good thing...even God does not like lukewarm :)
Mr. Curtis Jones...if you are going to drink tea with your "prin" it's got to be hot!

Michelle said...

I just think that everyone likes it how he or she likes it, you know? Some people like it hot, some like it lukewarm, some like it cold. I have friends who drink their coffee piping hot, but if I did that, it would burn my tongue...but they LOVE it that way! So I guess it's just a matter of personal preference...and I also think that some tongues are more sensitive than others.

R said...

YES!! We are coffee drinkers here, and my husband is the same way. He likes his lukewarm. The second my coffee dips below, oh 1 million degrees, I can't take it any more. I NEED it to be tongue-burning hot. :0)

It's neat that you still drink tea when you're pregnant. With both of my pregnancies, I didn't like the taste of coffee until after the babies were born. Then I went back to my coffee. It was sad, really...coffee is a neat ritual in my day that I missed for both 9-month spans!

And you mentioned your tea cup...I'm curious to know if you use the same one each morning, or if you use a different one from a matched set, or do you just have a hodgepodge of tea cups? Just wondering--one of those nosy questions.

I myself have a hodgepodge of collected coffee mugs.

Colored With Memories said...

lovin the "prin" nickname.

you may just have to wait for that daughter of yours to arrive to fully understand you on this one. you'll have many tea parties coming your way.

AnnieBlogs said...

My hot tea drinking heart kinda hurts at this.

To each his own. But I'm with Sophie- microwave that man the cheap stuff. :)

Kelly @ Love Well said...

I'm just impressed you get to drink it hot. I don't drink tea, but rushing around to get everyone ready in the morning, I rarely get to drink really hot coffee, even when it's in an insulated travel mug. I've learned to adjust my tastes.

jennyhope said...

A mess!! i love it

Ashley said...

My husband does the same thing with coffee and with tea. It took me a long time to figure out why he wouldn't sit down and drink with me....and why he always waited twenty minutes to drink anything.

Kelli said...

It DEFINITELY does not taste right if you let it get lukewarm!! :) You can't savor if you gulp... plain and simple!

Kelli said...

PS = What is the name of the tea you drink? I remember you linked to it once and it looked heavenly and I wanted to add it to my birthday list!

Laura said...

Love your story because I am a tea drinker!!

Luke warm tea is just not good!!

Drink it hot, smell the aroma!!

lavonda said...

My husband and I both have to have it EXTRA HOT. I mean, if it starts to cool off, it goes in the microwave to resume drinking. (This goes for our hot tea AND our coffee).
Even when we go through Starbucks or Carabou Coffee, we order it made 'extra hot'. (both places have the BEST soy chai tea or reg. chai latte made extra hot btw -- that's me for the record. Hubs is straight up black coffee or tea).

But we're different on so many other levels. That whole derned love them how they are, don't try to change them, compromise yada yada yada.... Who came up with that?! :)
Not worth rolling over.
Surprise him next time and do like Michele said she does: put an ice cube in it before you give it to him. I bet he'll smile.

katiegfromtennessee said...

Little Momma, you are funny! Jackson's saying is soo cute!:) Aww, tea misunderstandings:) I like hot tea too, but I'll drink it lukewarm. Your man calls you Prin? Is that short for Princess??:) My man calls me Princess Face-I like to think that it's His way of being an endearing sweetheart:) Mrs. Happy to Serve, I like that:)

Love in CHRIST,

katiegfromtennessee

Aunt_Nette said...

if he is going to drink it lukewarm I agree.............give him the cheap stuff. Then invite your MOPS group over and enjoy the good stuff.
I like mine with honey.
Did you know that you can get a kettle sweater. You heat up your water, slip the sweater around the kettle and you have hot water for 30-45 minutes. DOOL!

Erin Ward said...

So, when he says "gulp it down" he means take a few sips? Because doesn't he leave it mostly full? :)

Angela Baylis said...

Oh my goodness... this totally cracked me up! I probably shouldn't admit that I like it the same way as Curtis. Now, coffee is a whole other story! You are SO funny!

Hope your Saturday is going well!
Love,
Angie xoxo

Becca~CapturingSimpleJoys said...

As both and tea and coffee drinker I have to have mine HOT! I agree with all the suggestions to serve him the cheap stuff. He'll appreciate the effort and won't know the difference!

Lauren said...

You are too funny! Yes, it's not too great when it's cool, but I can't do the steamin' hot route, either.

Julie and Alberto Robles said...

OOH! My husband is the SAME WAY with coffee. I like it hot, sitting with it in the kitchen, slowly drinking and reading or talking. Nice. But for Alberto, it's lukewarm and quick. Yuck!