Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Time for tea

I'm such a coffee person (a habit I picked up when I began teaching), but there are times when I really long for tea. Not the Lipton type that you drink with friends on a cold dark Swedish winter night waitning for warmer days.

No, I long for the Nigerien type of tea drinking. The one where you go socializing and a friend or neighbour brings out the coal, the mint leaves and the precious sugar. The one that takes ages to reach perfection and which is served in small quantity but with such rich taste that one sip is amply sufficient. That is the tea I am longing for right now.

Unfortunately, musing has little effect on reality, so in the meantime, I will continue drinking coffee (literwise, or it seems...) and do the best I can to complete everything in time so that on Thursday next week, I am on that plane going south. And when I get the opportunity to enjoy that "glass of tea" with the good company that follows, I will let you know.

Ishtar

8 comments:

MYM said...

Yes, the best part of sharing a cup of tea is the great conversation that goes along with it.

Szavanna said...

So true - tea is IMPORTANT :) In my family we had various traditions of tea drinking - which normally involved Earl Grey tea and a clay teapot - that was so precious that whoever broke that pot was in for some heavy punishment.Then in Tunis tea was important as well - wherever you went you saw people drinking that mint tea - just like in Niger - small cups - sipping slowly - it seemed like a whole meditation exercise. Then I also was invited to families from Mauritania, Chad and probably Niger as well - to drink tea - great conversations - the tea seemed to have started an avalanche of thoughts about the meaning of life and other topics :)

Admin UD said...

hmmmmmmmm..sounds yummy

Izz said...

That's a very beautiful girl. Did you take the pic?

Anonymous said...

Jag tycker mig kunna ana ett mönster i allt du längtar efter. Det har väldigt mycket med Niger att göra! Kommer att sakna dig när du åker, men jag e också glad för din skull, för jag vet att det är i Afrika du trivs bäst!

Kramar Karin

Anu boy said...

hey, okay so i am not a fan of tea... but it seems like a fun thing to do with friends...

Szavanna said...

Hi there - thanks for this post - as you know :) it is now included on the BA blog's 4th edition :)

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous photo, Ishtar! I am new to the tea drinking scene and I like it. Very relaxing.