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Nostalgic Cups of Tea
Happy memories of India
This morning I made myself a cup of Darjeeling Tea. Once upon a time my uncle would bring packets back for me from India, and send them to me when he got home to Montreal. Now I get it from Harney & Sons. While I am on a budget, I do occasionally treat myself to special teas.
The first time I had tea, I was 12 years old and visiting India with my parents. I remember how they served it — piping hot, with milk and sugar. I still like it that way, but I use a drizzle of honey instead.
In India they pour a little of the hot tea from the cup to the saucer to help it cool enough to drink. There is a history behind this.
Once upon a time, saucers were actually used to hold sauce — hence the name. Nowadays, most Americans, if they drink tea, use the saucer to hold their soggy used tea bag. But in colonial times, people used it to cool their tea. It was actually considered more polite to pour the first few sips of tea into the saucer to cool down prior to drinking.
When I first saw this done in India, I thought it very odd. However, it’s very practical and also was the proper way to drink tea according to the colonial British. I am not sure the British still do this, but Indians did when I was a child.
