FoodNerd!

swapping addictions

My drug of choice is caffeine. Since I've gotten to Chicago, I've been drinking the office coffee, because it was there and it was free, and I had no caffeine-procurement facilities of my own. But as the days went along, I drank more and more of it, and found myself unable to think without an afternoon infusion as well as a couple big mugs in the morning. It was getting ugly. I needed to get back to my usual morning mug of strong black tea, the Irish kind that gets the job done right but doesn't cause the rest of your bodily systems to completely freak out.

But I couldn't find it anywhere. Argh! Can't cave and get crappy Lipton! What to do? LTHForum to the rescue. A thread there happened to discuss where to get british foodstuffs, and named an Irish shop named Tara. I got there, but too late -- it had already closed since it took me 8 million years to get there on the el. But there was mention also of a Jewel up the street from there with a tiny corner catering to the construction workers and bar staff in the neighborhood (which IS chockablock with Irish or at least Irish-style bars). And blessedly there was my box of Lyons brand tea. A little bit reconfigured, in a cubic box rather than flat, because they've reshaped the bags from flat & round to pyramidal, but I brewed some up today, it tastes just as I remember it, and all is right with the world. Thank heavens, and god bless my little addiction.