Musings...

I'm not a big coffee drinker. Love to sit in Starbucks but I can't drink the stuff. It smells wonderful but when I put coffee in my mouth, my throat closes up refusing to let it down. Perhaps its my glasses. I've heard it said.. if you drink coffee your ears will fall off and I'd have no way to keep them on my head. What ever the reason, I am a tea drinker.

Winter or summer my day begins with a glass of ice tea garnished with lemon. I maybe bleary-eyed and grumpy till the taste of Mr. J. Lipton hits the back of my throat and cuts the dust from the back of my mouth. I savor it. Holding in for a few moments, letting the fresh citrus tingle wake my taste bugs before it cools my throat as it careens over the falls toward my gullet. There is nothing as pleasant as that.

By afternoon, the stress of the day has taken its told and I'm up for another cold glass. The day of course will end with a warm cup of tea in the quiet of my living room when the men folks have skedaddled to their beds. So, no surprise, I'm making my pitcher of tea this morning ready to head out to the deck to plan a disaster for my hero and heroine when I pause to read the back of the tea bag paper.

"Your small cup can make a big difference"... really? Well it sure flushes my kidney's ... let's read on.... "Now , when you drink a cup of Lipton tea, you are not only taking care of yourself..." Ah see the subliminal message letting me know its okay to continue to drink... "but, you a re doing a bit more to support tea growers and the environment."



Okay, my family has always drank J. Lipton. When I was little I suppose I thought he was part of the family because the box with his likeness sat on the counter watching me eat Captain Crunch every morning. If my buying a box of tea supports tea growers then lets look at how much I have contributed to the well being of the world. I am double nickles. Uh, yeah that is 55. I've been drinking tea religiously since I was at least 5 years old. At 3 glasses a day, that 1095 glasses a year so for 50 years... that's 54,750 glasses give or take a few. We buy 2, 100 bag boxes of tea every two weeks, so that's 52 boxes a year. Average cost about three bucks a box.. so in a years time that's about... $156.00 worth of J. Lipton. Now, for 50 years that means I've contributed..nearly 7,800 dollars to save the worlds tea growers, not counting tax.

Say, I think this Tea hero needs another glass.. pardon me while I pour some over the ice and sit on my back porch to ponder my next adventure. Won't you join me? Cheers!