With my chronic sleeping problems, I've decided to try cutting back on coffee and replace it with tea. Ritsu is SHOCKED! And Mugi is… hold on, I'm distracted again.
Much like a smoker who has oral fixation after quitting, I realised as much as I need the bean it's the experience of having a steaming hot beverage while I'm programming or doing other work that I miss when I'm not having coffee, so tea is a really good analog. Except I program computers which are digital.
I'm the only one in the family who likes it, but I love Earl Grey tea. I'd make Jean Luc Picard proud, and disappoint Janeway ;). English Breakfast, Chai and Green are my other favourites, depending on my mood and the time of day. While we were in Ireland I also became quite partial to Irish Breakfast, but the supermarkets here don't stock it.
Twinings is the staple around here (cue Bakemonogatari reference), but Dilmah makes a mean green tea. I had some Oxfam English Breakfast from Australia which made me feel all warm and fuzzy, but I'm not sure if they have shops here.
The backstory you don’t care about
For those who aren't bored of the story already, back when I was in school my mum would often have chemotherapy early in the morning so we weren't in the oncology ward during the busy hours of the day. To the frustration of Ms Sameuls, my high school year coordinator who called me a "part time student" on several occasions behind my back, I would always go with her to the hospital to keep her company, even if it meant skipping morning classes or taking whole days off when she'd have to go to the ICU which occured more frequently as the years went by.
Because it was so early in the morning, we got into the habit of having me go upstars to Delifrance to buy takeaway coffee and "medicial cakey substances", to use her lingo. She was the most epically awesome person, so of course The God(s) had to take her out while keeping people like Bush alive. Karma is bunk.
Anyway getting back on track, I got into the habit of having one cup, then two, then three to stay awake in those early hours, and eventially it became a dependency. I was up to seven a day a few years ago (which ironically helped my abnormally low blood pressure!), but I've since cut back to four. It's my hope by drinking more tea to have that down to two or three a day. Here's hoping I can pull it off!
You know what would help?
If Mugi and Jean Luc Picard (or Mugi's seiyuu and Patrick Stewart!) came over to help me drink more tea. I'd ask Yui to serve it, but she'd probally spill it everywhere. Or Mikuru, that works :).
