chinese tea
August 10th, 2006 by boon
I’m starting to look more and more cheapskate, especially when I step out for lunches in my new corporate uniform of dress shoes and tucked in polo-Ts and pleated slacks. But I can’t help admitting the fact that I like iced chinese tea, for all of its eccentricities of being a one-of-a-kind drink.
Firstly, it doesn’t promote itself as flaringly candied nor rich. It has a dull and unimaginative color, occasionally peppered with loose economy-grade tea leaves. And at a price point of 30 sen, there’s nothing that can quite match it.
It’s creeping up to 50 sen in some parts of the city now, though.
Nevertheless, I am constantly satisfied when I gulp it, sip it, or look at it. A mouthful is enough to quench thirst. A sip has enough zing as teas go. And somehow you are toying with the thought that you actually got away with that at a bargain, while the other guys around the table are paying for some overpriced fizzy pop or the more popular sugar-loaded iced cafe stuff for 3 or 4 times more.
And even if you won’t like the taste, somehow you’ll find ways to like it. It’s kind of like that odd leaf water thing they serve up at Korean or Jap restaurants on free flow. You don’t find it very punchy but you keep drinking it because you know it’ll keep coming, and it doesn’t overpower the meal like some drinks do.
If only they served that in mamak shops.