Le 19 janvier In the United States, we drink our tea hot in the cold weather and cold in warmer weather. The cold tea cools you off in those summer months and the hot tea warms your frozen fingers and toes after shoveling the driveway.
In Rwanda, people drink tea two, three times a day. It’s locally grown and wonderful, and it’s a way of life. The problem? It’s always served hot. We’re practically straddling the Equator, so it’s always warm if not hot here. One or two times I’ve put socks on in the evening, but truly it’s never what a New Englander would consider “cold” here. (Though on days where it’s in the 70’s maybe you’ll see people wearing winter coats and scarves – quite comical to me.)
Rwandan black tea is delicious. I take tea with the rest of the community in the mornings and evenings, and am rather enjoying the tradition. We make tea each night and put it in a thermos so that it will stay hot for the following morning, because we’re always running this way and that during the day.
I take what’s left of the thermos at the end of the day (if there is any) and put it aside in the fridge to make room for the fresh, hot tea that we’re making. I’ll tell ya, the reactions I got when I went to drink cold tea? Ooh, priceless. “Yeah, we do this quite frequently at home. We even have a name for it – ‘iced tea.’ We drink it during the hot months, because it’s more refreshing.” Nope, didn’t quite compute.
Well, nature being what it is, hot tea has the same effect on the body no matter where you are – it warms you up. Often if drink the just-made, practically-still-boiling tea, I’ll realize after that my body temperature risen quite significantly. Sr. Ema loves a window open and fresh air flowing no matter where she is, and I’m a big fan of it, too. (The Rwandans don’t get hot, so it’s up to us non-Africans to bring in some fresh air.) Just after I finish my tea or even a hot meal I can feel a hot flash coming on. It’s quite backwards, but don’t try telling a Rwandan that.
In Rwanda, people drink tea two, three times a day. It’s locally grown and wonderful, and it’s a way of life. The problem? It’s always served hot. We’re practically straddling the Equator, so it’s always warm if not hot here. One or two times I’ve put socks on in the evening, but truly it’s never what a New Englander would consider “cold” here. (Though on days where it’s in the 70’s maybe you’ll see people wearing winter coats and scarves – quite comical to me.)
Rwandan black tea is delicious. I take tea with the rest of the community in the mornings and evenings, and am rather enjoying the tradition. We make tea each night and put it in a thermos so that it will stay hot for the following morning, because we’re always running this way and that during the day.
I take what’s left of the thermos at the end of the day (if there is any) and put it aside in the fridge to make room for the fresh, hot tea that we’re making. I’ll tell ya, the reactions I got when I went to drink cold tea? Ooh, priceless. “Yeah, we do this quite frequently at home. We even have a name for it – ‘iced tea.’ We drink it during the hot months, because it’s more refreshing.” Nope, didn’t quite compute.
Well, nature being what it is, hot tea has the same effect on the body no matter where you are – it warms you up. Often if drink the just-made, practically-still-boiling tea, I’ll realize after that my body temperature risen quite significantly. Sr. Ema loves a window open and fresh air flowing no matter where she is, and I’m a big fan of it, too. (The Rwandans don’t get hot, so it’s up to us non-Africans to bring in some fresh air.) Just after I finish my tea or even a hot meal I can feel a hot flash coming on. It’s quite backwards, but don’t try telling a Rwandan that.
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