Tea and other stories.

I am most definitely a tea girl - sure I drink the odd coffee from a Starbucks or the local equivalent. I cannot stand instant coffee and for this I must thank my mother, who made delicious real coffee at a time when hardly anyone else in our acquaintance did - she loves it! I do too, but only occasionally, and the worse it is, the more stuff I put in it. Good coffee deserves to come in espresso form, although it doesn't last long. My usual poison is Vanilla Latte - but not often, and only if accompanied by caramel waffles which you warm on top of the cup until squidgy.

These caramel waffles are a throwback to my childhood. Mum and Dad had lots of friends from Holland, from where these delicious morsels originate. On their visits to us, and on our solitary visit to Holland, we had these biscuits (although that word really doesn't do them justice) - just a hint of cinnamon, crispy waffle sandwiching a gooey caramel filling - pure decadence.

But back to tea. I'm feeling like I definitely drink too much of it, in fact sometimes I even feel I have had enough - not something I thought was possible in terms of taste, not volume! So today, I ventured into the realm of decaf - not actually tried it yet, but feel I need to cut down on the caffeine, because giving up tea, even for Lent, is simply not an option.

I'm going for the gentle detox route, as the last time I gave up tea I had a hangover for four days!! So it's the introduction of a decaf every so often for me, and hopefully better health/wellbeing/feeling? without the ultimate sacrifice! Let's hope so.