time for TEA

As British citizen I do believe tea is in my blood. However my love affair with PG tips has waned slightly since becoming a permanent resident of Cyprus where everything revolves around coffee. While I would have previously opted for an extra strong PG tips with a little splash of milk and 1 sugar, now my usual is a tall hazelnut latte with soya milk. I know i'm a traitor but a good British brew is just so hard to come by here that I had to eventually succumb to peer pressure and my palette had to adjust to a new way of life.

I dont know if it was the milk or the water but PG tips just doesn't taste the same over on the side of Europe and instead of battling, I thought it better just to get used to reaching for the nescafe in the morning instead of a tea bag.

Its fair to say I am now a coffee lover, but with soya milk only - I dont know what my thing is with the milk but its the soya way or no way. Yet since i've been pumping so many coffee beans into my body, i've also developed a taste for herbal teas. Green tea, mint tea, camomile and raspberry all topping my list of favourites. But the one tea I firmly believe I now cant live without is Jasmine tea.

I was introduced to this wondrous stuff a while ago when my boyfriends mum popped a cup in front of me. Since that day it's been a blossoming love affair. But it wasn't until our recent trip to London that said mum gifted me with an infuser and a huge tub of jasmine tea that it became an obsession.

The smell, the taste, the depth and the simpleness of this tea are all reasons why I cant get enough. I highly recommend an infuser some loose tea and a few grains of sugar - since the jasmine can become a bit bitter if you infuse for too long.

And now drink....