Midsummer Tea
I couldn’t resist posting these vintage and worn teacups stacked up upon each other as if they had come from Miss Haversham’s rickety old pantry. Or perhaps the cups are from a castle’s damp scullery, such as the one in Dodie Smith’s entrancing novel, “I Capture the Castle”. Were I to hold them in my hands, I’m sure I could feel the angst of love won and lost. They are not very summery but the image also reminds me how much I still enjoy hot tea, even past the solstice.
While everyone is drinking iced coffee or iced tea, my kettle still calls out each afternoon with thoughts of something warm and milky. My son- in-law is the same way – at 3:00 pm every afternoon, he unearths himself from his basement office for hot tea. Imagine how charming I find his personal ritual…this gentle yet strong man who is married to my daughter. If I am visiting at 3:00, a cup is silently placed before me as well and it’s always prepared just the way I like it – with a splash of whole milk. I don’t even have to ask…
If I can tolerate a hot drink in the middle of a tropical summer afternoon, I can only surmise that it is not the tea that I love so much, but the ritual. And the fact that breaking for tea shoots a Mason Dixon line straight across the day and one knows that once the tea things are put away, the summer evening will soon drop down after its lovely but brief golden hour. I always get a sighing sense of relief that night will bring cooler temperatures and a slower pace. The phone calls have been made, the trip to the dentist accomplished, and the business of the world is ending. Once I’ve had my tea, I know the best is yet to be.
8 Comments
Rebecca Bussinger
Where can I buy these lovely antique dishes? Just beautiful😍
A Lovely Inconsequence
They are beautiful, aren’t they? The look like my grandmother’s but not quite. Try Google reverse image search.
Karen
Thank you for this word picture. I felt my ramped-up morning brain relax just with the thought of afternoon respite to come. Milky tea and deep breaths. Serenity at its best. xo karen
Christine McCann
I enjoyed your evocative musings. Thanks for sharing them. And yes, I drink hot tea in the summer, too!
Karen
That’s SLAKING, not soaking, auto-correct!!
Karen
Lovely!! My hot tea moment is in the morning–by midday in the summer, this Maryland-raised chick is soaking her thirst with a tall glas of sweet tea!!! Mmmmmm-mmm!
Dana
I always drink hot tea and hot coffee in the summer. It’s just more comforting than the iced version. Perhaps it is the ritual that I prefer but it’s always the loveliest part of my day. As you mentioned, once my morning hot coffee is finished then it’s on with my day. Hot tea is a sign that the day is done. Thanks for this lovely post!
Kay from Cheshire
Here in England drinking iced tea is unusual and we drink our tea hot in even the hottest weather. It’s supposed to cool you down by making you perspire (or sweat, depending on your level of gentility), and as a tradition probably dates back to colonial days in India, if one is allowed to mention that these days. I think English people are faintly amused by American references to ‘hot tea’ (and ‘hot cocoa’ come to that) as the ‘hot’ is redundant for us. But regardless of temperature, afternoon teatime is, as you say, a delightful time of the day.