jungle tea

I love all kinds of tea and especially fresh mint tea. The last couple of years this has become a fad and the definite upside of that is that one can get fresh mint tea in most bars and restaurants. 10 years ago you would have been labeled a crazy demanding hippy type, these days it is almost as common as a latte.

What I do not understand, though, is the sheer amount of mint leaves these excellent service providers think necessary. These days you get a teaglass full of a veritable jungle of mint stalks with a bit of hot water wedged in beween. Subsequently there are two options to deal with all these greens. If one has room and a large extra plate, one can fish out the mint and dispose of it. Sometimes you do not have room to dispose of it and you have to try to drink around the leaves though.

Last week I was in a situation where I was socially circling around at my office christmas dinner. I had my mint tea with me while I was standing around chatting to some colleagues. I tried to push the leaves to the bottom with my teaspoon... unfortunately with no discernible effect. Then I had a sip, with spoon and leaves, immediately almost choking on a loose mint leaf that had escaped. While trying to look cool and collected and interested in my colleagues stories, I eyed the tea carefully before taking my next sip. I managed to take a few accident free sips and was enjoying the fresh zesty taste. However, as the glass became more empty, I had to improvise holding up the sliding jungle of mint with my spoon while drinking the tea in a sort of sideways approach to my face because I couldn't hold the glass up normally with all this shit happening. I literally lost sight of my colleague while drinking this contraption. It was also increasingly hard not to slurp. Slightly flustererd I left the last bit of tea in the glass and put it down defeatedly. 

When next by the bar I decided to go back to drinking beer.