You are what you drink

You've heard the expression, "you are what you eat". Well, I think that says the same for what you drink too.
When ever my siblings and I visit my Mother's house she will offer us something to drink. It goes like this: my father gets black coffee, my brother gets an American brand beer, my sister gets white Australian wine and I get British tea.
I think my mother would just about have a heart attack if I asked for, say, a rum and coke. She would get all twitchy and nervous scurrying around looking for a dusty bottle of 30 year old rum confused and upset why I would drink something so....out of character.
There was a time that rum was my poison and indeed, it is a poison, at least for me. Today, if I so much as have a tiny piece of rum cake I get violently ill. The same goes with diet sodas. So I treat these so called beverages as I would with ant poisoning. Handle with care and wash your hands after wards.
There is nothing so soothing as a proper cup of tea. When I say a proper cup of tea I don't mean a stale cheap teabag sitting in a Styrofoam cup filled with lukewarm tap water. I get the shivers just thinking about that. Ewww!
I mean having a real cup of tea.
When my sister lived in London she would send me real tea. British tea leaves that you would brew with an infuser. One of the best teas I ever had was the brand Fortnum & Mason "Celebration Blend Tea". Of course, tea's flavor always taste enhanced served in a bone china tea cup with a splash of whole milk.
I spent a lot of time in London. People often asked what I thought of the pubs. I would remark on all the wonderful tea houses I visited instead. On the countryside, there were little cottage like tea house everywhere. I have to say my sister was rather patient with me because I always wanted to stop and have a cup of tea along with the famous clotted cream scone. One tea house I found in London remarkable not because the tea was good but it was just a cool place to have tea was the "London crypt".
It was an underground tea house that was set up in an ancient crypt. The burial stones are faded with names of the deceased dated back since the 1400's. It was kind of creepy but cool (if you like English history like I do!) If you are a history buff, the tower of London is a "must see" spot. Perhaps I was a subject of King Henry the VIII in my other life. I had such a burning pain in my neck touring the tower of London and shivered watching the humongous crows still perching on the scaffolds.
The town of Camden, England had more coffee shops rather than traditional tea houses with more of a goth/punk flare to it. By the way, Camden is the place to shop for funky clothes.
When I was in Bermuda, I found a wonderful tea house that you could get to by bus. It was at the Willow Bank hotel called Mrs. T's tea room. We went to this place twice. The decor had a British Royality flare to it along with linens and hundreds of various tea cups perched everywhere. Yes, you got a proper pot of tea with little cakes and bite-size sandwiches.
It was pure heaven.
As a kid, my sister and I used to visit the Tremont teahouse in downtown Boston for tea and to have our tea leaves read. As far as I know it is still there. The last time I was there was about 10 years ago. It was still the same with it's same scrotty pink walls and Formica tables.
Here in Massachusetts, I've been to the Crumpets teahouse in North Andover, the Wenham teahouse in Wenham and another one in Tyngsboro( that I can not remember the name of it) which I would stop there while I was on a motorcycle ride a couple of years ago.
I am a frequent customer of the Leah Mae's tea house in Haverhill. They have all kinds of exotic flavors but I prefer English tea with my requesite home-made scone. It is also an antique shop which is also fun to check out.
Nothing is better than sitting and relaxing with my birds when I have a break to enjoy a mid afternoon cup of tea. Eddie will run down my arm to check in my cup to see how much tea I have. It's funny, but they also seem enjoy this little afternoon routine of "tea time" too!