Mornings are always sleepy for me. I drag my feet down the stairs, in a mild haze, then I find that there are a mug and a pot of a particularly precious caffeinated drink, tea. My family has built up a collection of tea over the years. We got six different types of Chinese tea while in Beijing; we have boxes of chamomile tea from a family friend, decaffeinated black tea from Trader Joes, and a smoked black tea from Japan. Over the school year, my morning routine caused me to greatly rush to school every morning, without much opportunity to brew tea. But now that my family is at home, we have had a chance to share mugs of tea, and my mother has specially brewed a pot in the morning. One sip in the morning gets me ready to go and start the day on the right foot.

Tea is a mild companion compared to the intoxicating coffee. While coffee does have a greater caffeine content, the elegance of tea triumphs over coffee’s sheer strength. Coffee’s flavor is too powerful and quickly overwhelms one’s senses. On the other hand, the flavor of the tea is subtle yet insistent, allowing one to enjoy the drink without feeling fraught with caffeine. Not to mention that tea has already found its success over coffee being the most consumed drink after water. 

Testaments to tea’s popularity can be found within its variations with milk teas, commonly with boba, being popular among many local youths, and if my grandparents ever taught me anything about tea, it’s that the elderly savor a simple cup with equally as much enthusiasm as the youth do. Meanwhile, coffee is associated with a busy worker. While not a bad symbol of work ethic and productivity, coffee’s status as an on-the-go, necessary drink makes it unsuited for all occasions when compared to the more universal nature of tea.

Petty rivalries of drinks aside, the amount of times tea has allowed me to get through the day, and focus on my task at hand is uncountable. Even as I am writing this deep in the evening, I am enjoying a cup of tea to stave off the cold nights and bring me concentration writing this article out. I give gratitude to tea for bringing me through harsh times and for giving me a slice of comfort which is rarer in these times of anxiety and distance learning. I may not know what the future holds for me during this epidemic, wrought with struggles and anxiety, but I do know that tea is most certainly in my future. It is a gift that must be savored only by a response of an empty mug and a plea for seconds.