Monday, August 17, 2009

Tea Tale

At church fellowship gatherings like the wedding shower Friday night, people are usually asked to bring specific food items. Last Friday, I was asked to bring un-sweet tea. You may think people in OK only drink sweet tea, but there are a few of us who drink our tea without the sweet. Yet, Okies do seem a bit particular about their tea. During the evening, I was standing in line at the refreshment table waiting to get a refill on tea and chatting with friends. I mentioned that I only wanted a refill on tea. One of the ladies in line said, "Well, I had some tea a while ago, it was awful." "Yeah," said another lady, "I had some it was really bad." Another said, "Yeah, someone brought some tea that just tastes weird."


Me: matter-of-factly, "I think I brought that tea."
Others: " No! Not you, Lou. You did'nt bring it. It was really bad."
Me: "Yeah, I think it was probably my tea."
Others: "This tea was kind of orange!"
Me: "I put Constant Comment in my tea along with regular tea bags to add to the flavor."
Others: "What is Constant Comment?"
Me: "It is just a tea – like Earl Grey."
Others: "It wasn’t your tea."
Me: "Wanna bet?"

We got up to the table and I poured myself some tea from the pitcher I brought. One of the ladies leaned over and smelled it. She wrinkled her nose and said, "Yep that’s it."


It was funny that I caught these ladies were badmouthing someone’s tea (and therefore badmouthing the person who brought it), and that it was me/my tea they were badmouthing. Maybe I should have gone along with them and pretended not to know whose tea it was. But they were just so insistent that it was not my tea. By my confessing that it was my tea, it shown the light on their behavior – made them feel a bit guilty - getting caught does that. I don't really think their behavior was bad. It was actually very funny. I was just messing with them. I did realize that I should not have messed with the tea. Okies are particular that way.

10 comments:

joyce said...

McDonalds are running their super big tall tea for one dollar. The sweet is super sweet, and the unsweet tastes good after I bring it home and doctor it with orange juice or lemonade. Today, I added cherry juice, as the health food store cherry juice is not sweet--it needed that sweeeet tea.

Bag Blog said...

Joyce, You mean you added other flavors to your tea?! Let me tell you, only do that at home. It may be considered a sin to do it in church.

Bob said...

Joyce used to make that "Incessant Complaint" tea, too. (And I was about as complimentary as those ladies at your church.)

Buck said...

Hmmm. I have a tin of Constant Comment (the original orange flavor) in my cupboard... and a box of Earl Grey, and a box of Tetley "regular." What I drink depends on my mood at the moment. But I'm thinking Okies ain't got nuthin' on the Brits when it comes to fussiness about their tea...

That is kinda funny about your lady friends, tho. It all goes to prove what Mom said: "If you can't say anything NICE..." :D

Bag Blog said...

Bob, "incessant complaint" are you sure about that?

Buck, You are right about OKies and tea. Could it be true of all Southerners? I love my lady friends, but I did not let them off the hook :)

GUYK said...

Heh...most of the tea drinkin Okies I know put so much sugar in it they can't taste the tea anyways.

Buck said...

Could it be true of all Southerners?

I'm thinkin' it's true of MOST. My Mom's side of the family was from Jawja and it was rare to see any of the women without their iced tea during the day. SWEET iced tea...

Junk Diva said...

You are an evil woman .

Bag Blog said...

Diva, You know the motives of my heart.

Guyk and Buck, That is why us South'ners are so sweet.

MezzoSF said...

Hi there, Lou!! I have been AWOL for a while, 'tis true. SO...slowly catching back up. It's hard when one's computer at home is kaput.
RE: sweet tea. Growing up in CO, I had no concept of sweet tea. However, whenever we went to Louisiana to visit any of our relatives, we'd always get to drink what *I* called "special juice." It was tasty, and we NEVER had it at home. Turns out, my freshman year of college in TX, that the "special juice" was sweet tea. I had no idea until I knowingly had some that that's what it was. Definitely a Southern thing.