It’s 80+ degrees on a mid-October Sunday today and I’m thinking about how my drinking patterns change throughout the year.
For several months, I have been drinking drip, manual and automatic, coffee in the morning, iced tea in the middle of the day, and hot tea at night. This is a new pattern for me, as I have historically been more of a coffee drinker than a tea drinker. In fact, I rarely have espresso these days.
Why the change? I think it is partly because I had a silly cough for most of the summer and tea feels better at night. Also, I have been been eating more fruit in the evening, and coffee with a fruit parfait just does not do it for me. Tea can range from fruity to smoky to floral in greater extremes than coffee, and I find it is easier to match my mood with tea.
As for the iced tea during the day, I have a tendency to drink my morning cup of coffee and then not drink anything until I get home in the afternoon. So, I started to grab a big cup of tea or seltzer to have with my lunch. It at least guarantees that I will have more than a cup of coffee. We brew a traditional iced tea, but we also rotate through some of our flavored teas. I have come across some real unexpected winners. Take Chocolate Mint Roiboos; I never would have thought to make an iced tea out of that. But, it is really good! Of course, the Hibiscus Punch is a favorite, but that is to be expected with the word “punch” in its name.
I can’t explain the lack of espresso. Maybe it is because I have been scrambling all summer and have not had the time to sit and enjoy it. This is what usually happens: I make my drink thinking I will have time to sit, ready emails, and sip on it. Inevitably, I have to pop up and handle some issue or fill in somewhere. By the time I get back to my chair, the drink is cold and not at all appealing. After this scenario repeated a few times, I just stopped making the drink at all.
I think that as it cools off and the leaves start to change colors, my coffee consumption will increase a bit. Maybe the shorter days will have something to do with it, too. It is hard to get up in the dark when it is cold outside. A warm cup of coffee is definitely an incentive.
Have you found your coffee and tea tastes change during the year? If so, how?
