The romance of the morning tea

 

The Americans take their coffee on the go, if you happen to be driving during the morning hours in the US, you will see a majority of the drivers having their coffee while driving to work. While America works on coffee, the English and their tea is a tradition. The English tea in flowered porcelain cups are as much English as bread pudding. But no where in the world has the making and taking of tea acquired a cult status as it is India.

From the kadak chai of Mumbai to the Irani chai of Hyderabad every Indian has his or own favourite way of making the brew that India wakes upto. We Indians do not believe in the making tea as the world does, with the tea leaves seeped in hot water and had with a little cream or sugar. Like our cuisine we prefer our tea to be robust. Based on personal preferences, the tea is made either with full milk or half milk and half water, which has to be boiled and simmered and sugar and tea leaves till its aroma wafts around the surroundings and wakes up the soul. 

Each person I have seen has his or her own idiosyncrasy associated with the first cup of the day, some like it scalding hot right from the kettle on the stove to their cup and their lips in a matter of minutes if not seconds any delay and they say it is as cold as water. While some prefer it luke warm and some take it downright cold. The variations are as varied as there are races, one of my cousins wants his tea to be served hot with steam rising from the cup, he would take the cup place it on a table near him and watch it till the steam slowly subsides, when  only then would he take the first sip. Give him a cup of tea that is not scalding hot and he would send it back saying the tea is cold. When asked the response was classic, “watching the steam rise from the tea enhances the pleasure of anticipation it is the same as the romance of waiting for ones beloved” .

This set me off thinking of tea and romance Indian style and what I observed was that no matter how harried the life of the Indian couple, no matter how hard up he is for time and space no matter how rushed the days, irrespective of age and social status morning tea time is a time for romance Indian style. And each couple has perfected its own style of romantic tea ritual.

I know this couple, the husband makes the morning tea as he is the one to get up earlier of the two and after his morning walk returns home and makes the tea and wakes up his wife, by the time she finishes her morning rituals the tea is ready. The husband serves the tea along with the biscuits and takes it out in the verdandah, where the couple enjoy their first cup of the day. Now, the wife takes extra sugar in the tea, and it is the husbands duty, once she is seated across him to add the extra sugar to the tea and stir it and hand over the cup to her. And if the husband adds in the extra sugar in the kitchen she takes a sip of the tea and leaves it saying its not done properly. And the days when the husband is off on tours, she has no trouble with making and drinking the tea by herself.

Then there is this other couple who have their first cup of tea in the balcony of their apartment, while reading the paper. The husband reads the paper while the wife prepares the morning tea and brings it out to the balcony. Once she places the tea cups on the table the husband stops reading the paper and gives it to his wife, who reads the paper while the husband drinks the tea. Once she finishes reading the paper, the husband removes the thin layer of cream that forms on the tea if left to cool, and hands over the cup to the wife.

The one with most consequences was the ritual of one of my many aunts and uncles, it was the husbands duty to make the morning cup of tea for the wife. My aunt after having the cup of tea would enter the kitchen only after her husband served her tea. She would not have the morning tea if any person other my uncle made or served it to her. And God forbid if for any reason my uncle did not make or serve tea to her, she would not enter the kitchen itself forget cooking. My uncle had to first make the tea and serve her and only then would she enter the kitchen. One good thing about this was no matter how big the quarrel between the two of them, it would have to be resolved by a cup of morning tea else the whole house would go hungry.

As for me and my husband, we get up in the morning and wait for the maid to come and give us the morning cup of cheer.