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I am not what I would consider to be a tea drinker (said the voice of
a typical American who has always believed that black coffee is what separates us from the rest of the world). Or am I?
I go through phases: I have drunk
tea before, sometimes in the evenings when we were out of beer. Currently I am
in a Tea-Instead-of-Coffee (TIC) phase. I wonder if this one will last. What will everyone back home
think?
A box of green tea was sitting on my dresser shelf for over a month,
and I continued to pass it up for coffee. Then, when we ran out of coffee, for instant coffee. Finally, I decided to try the tea.
 I brewed a
thermos-ful, and took it out to the turret of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle that guards
the north entrance to our combat outpost. I had a four-hour shift, but finished
the thermos in under an hour, with the help of the only person in the company (perhaps the Army)
who drinks tea openly, and is currently in a TIC. He was my partner in the turret,
and we actually discussed tea for the majority of our shift (away from the critical ears of the platoon). I told
him to bring his thermos when we returned for our next shift in four hours.
 He made Earl Grey and sweetened it. I made more green and left it
as is. An Anglican priest once told me it was a mortal sin to flavor coffee or
tobacco; I add to that list the sweetening of
tea. We shared. His was not too bad (only a little sweet). He drank more of mine than he did of his
own.
Since that morning in the turret of my Bradley, watching the sunrise
on Sunset Street, I have not tasted coffee. It is black tea in the morning, and green or white in the evenings.
 When we go out to set
up ambushes, a thermos of green tea comes along. When we occupy a house in order to keep a secret eye
on the neighborhood for a day, I bring the thermos -- but the residents always make us tea
(chai), which I add to my ration. I ask them to leave the sugar out of mine,
but when they bring it to me, it has enough sugar in it to stand the spoon upright
in the cup. I drink it anyway, and then pour my own without the sugar. I tell them that the sugar ruins the
taste; my interpreter interprets and then they all laugh. They find it alarming
that anyone would drink tea without sugar. I have to admit, secretly, that their tea is not
very good, and that it probably needs something to hide the taste. But you donąt put sugar in coffee just
because it is not the best cup you have ever tasted. Right?
Once, when we were in a
house, I offered some of my tea to everyone. When the old Iraqi man lifted my thermos
cup to his lips, he squinted his eyes -- and I am sure he never actually swallowed any of
the bitter brew before he handed it back to me and said that he preferred sugar. The Iraqi Army guys look
like I am trying to hand them a live hand grenade when I hold up my thermos and sign for
them to help themselves. That is fine; if I am going to be a tea-drinking weenie, at least it ainąt sweet. That is just
sissy!
Copyright
© 2007 by Edward Clark III. All rights reserved. This
article was originally published at iNie
Tea.
Edward
Clark III is currently serving with the United States
military
in Anbar Province, Iraq. He is definitely not a weenie. Send your comments, thanks, and
support to him in care of Claudia
Clark.
Image
of Bradley Fighting Vehicle courtesy of Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center.
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