No one told me there's no tea in this tea.

Despite my Canadian heritage, and my parents' lifelong affinity for morning and afternoon tea events, I've considered myself a hard and fast coffee drinker for the whole of my adult existence.

Not that my parents didn't give it an honest try

-- introducing little Nancy to strong English tea at a very young age.

So young, I would suspect it would be considered child abuse by today's standards.

I do have early memories of sharing tea with my mom -- lots of cream and a little bit of sugar. 

Not too hot. 

I felt so grown up during these tea sessions. 

I can't recall what the cup looked like, 

but I do remember the soothing color of creamy tan 

as I peered down into the cup, anticipating my next sip.

: : :

I was what my mother would call "naughty" back in those days.

She actually considered taking me to one of those "special" doctors 

to have me checked out,

I vexed her so.

Nothing like my perfect older sister,

who never gave anyone a bit of trouble.

What went wrong? I blame it on the tea experiment.

You can't pump bold British caffeine into a child of four 

and not expect some collateral damage.

Like one of those lab chimps you read about that goes rogue 

and bites their human companions -- 

mom was ready to ship me off to the nearest animal sanctuary.

Fortunately, I grew out of that stage -- I think.

Or my dad continued to rescue me, as was usually the case,

until I turned 18 and moved out.

: : :

Over the past couple of years of blogging,

I have read numerous posts on other sites

about the magical and sensuous effects

while drinking herbal teas.

I wanted me some of that.

I also loved the idea of revisiting my early tea-sipping days,

perhaps hoping to relive those special kitchen-table moments with mom.

And, being just a tad more than caffeine intolerant,

the natural non-caffeinated properties of herbal teas was attractive to me.

So I thought I would give it a try.

: : :

During a recent visit to the grocery store,

I picked up a couple of boxes of herbal tea -- 

the ones with the colorful, precious animals and flowers on the package.

You know the ones.

In the spirit of the holidays, Peppermint Herbal Tea seemed to be calling my name.

I so wanted it to be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Not so.

Because it tasted like boiled twigs and leaves.

Not surprising, because after reading the label

(something I should have done before I bought it,)

that's exactly what herbal tea is.

Herbal tea is made from many plants, using not just the leaves,

but also the flowers, roots, bark and seeds.*

You mean, there's no tea in this tea?

Blech.

I could hardly swallow it down.

If I wanted to drink a weak concoction of warm water and tree bark,

I could have easily made my own and saved $7.00.

More daunting is --

at my age,

why didn't I already know this.

*Source.

: : :

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