years ago i worked at an office that was a few doors down from a café. my friend and i developed a 3:00 tea habit and only a week into it, the server knew our drink of choice: a vanilla ceylon tea, made into a latte, please, drizzled (heavily. drowned almost…) with honey. it was milky, aromatic, sweet and soothing from the honey and so comforting. we’d created a masterpiece.
apparently someone else had a similar idea. on saturday, i ordered a “london fog” from a café close to home, described as earl grey tea, vanilla and steamed milk. i made no conscious connection to “my” concoction until the first delicious sip; it had been at least five years since i’d had that version. in this new discovery, the vanilla was not part of the black tea itself, but vanilla syrup which was sweet enough to replace the honey. similar tasting in every way and enjoyable from start to finish.
two days later i walked into a coffee shop and guess what they had on their menu? yep. is this a new trend? if it is spreading, we’re all lucky. this purely white, light as a cloud, warming tea is exactly the thing you want to stick your face into on cold rainy fall days like the ones that have decided to place themselves back to back since october arrived. who can blame you for having one almost every day this week, right? right?