Not that anyone is maligning tea … although I did for a long time, so perhaps I’m defending it from myself.

For years I disliked tea. Most of my experience with it was iced tea and tea in Japanese or Chinese restaurants.

When we were in Thailand last year I was given a cup of lemongrass tea. I politely sipped it … and discovered it was awesome! (Mary informed me later that it was also loaded with sugar, which helped make it so good).

But it broke down a lot of my resistance. A year later, Mary got a nice teapot, and I started to smell tea regularly. And it smelled so good. Peppermint and citrus and all sorts of flavors I’d never associated with tea before.

Mary poured me a cup and I’ve been hooked. We often have a pot of decaf peppermint tea at night (or did when it was colder). And after watching The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency we decided to try the bush tea that Mme. Ramotswe is always drinking. (Quality seemed to vary by brand).

So tea turns out to be wonderful. It just took me a few years to clue in. I still don’t like iced tea, but even that I might eventually come around to.