Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Back when I was in my junior year at college, I used to make
myself a cup of hot milk tea for breakfast, eaten with a slice of bread in the
dining room, alone, as my mom and sisters would still be happily taking their
time in dreamland. The milk tea was a super-easy-to-make, fairly sustaining (at
least for my then-apparently-tiny gut) and really delicious beverage. It takes
me only about three minutes to prepare a cup. With its time-friendly quality,
it was a perfect menu for me who didn’t want to have to wake up earlier,
considering that my classes started at 7 in the morning!
For about a year, hot milk tea, looking attractive in a
porcelain teacup given by my grandpa, was my loyal breakfast buddy. While my
thoughts wandered into the realms of life, or dream (it was sometimes hard to distinguish
the two kinds at six in the morning), the cup of milk tea would quietly and
patiently spend time with me, generously letting me savor its delicious warm
liquid. It tastes sweet, but not too sweet, and creamy but leaves your tongue
with a dry sensation once swallowed, like the sensation you get right after
savoring a piece of rich dark chocolate. But the first thing you would notice
would be its delightful texture in your mouth, which is surprisingly smooth and
light – imagine McDonald’s ice cream, but with a much lighter feel. And the
aroma…. How do I describe it? It smells sugary and milky, with a hint aroma of
tea leaves; almost like the smell of burnt caramel, but much lighter, and yet
strong enough to make it distinctive. The perfect combination of it all creates
what I claimed to be my favorite drink.
The following year, though, I had to remove hot milk tea
from the ‘breakfast buddy’ title, as fate (meaning me running out of teabags
one morning) introduced me to a new menu: instant cereal drink with oatmeal.
Its ability to beat hot-milk-tea’s record of preparation time, added with its
incredible nutrition content and sustainability, makes it the best candidate
for breakfast meal.
Nonetheless, homemade hot milk tea still confidently holds
its title as my favorite drink, even after my sweet encounter with Green Tea
Smoothies and Hazelnut Latte, and even when China kept us apart. In fact, it
has now won itself a new title as my occasional midnight buddy. I would sit in
front of my laptop screen on chilly nights, entertaining myself with my
favorite TV series, while a cup of hot milk tea would quietly and patiently accompany
me, kindly offering me its warmth and heavenly taste. Boy, do I love my
midnight buddy!
It was this January that I last had a cup of hot milk tea
for breakfast – the first one in probably 3 years. So this morning when I woke
up earlier than usual, I decided to make myself another cup. And it was during
those seconds of savoring its flavor that I realized why exactly this homemade milk tea becomes one of my favorite
things on earth. It’s not only because of its heavenly taste or unique aroma. Not
also simply because of the perfect combination of the two qualities. The reason
is greater than that: it is the sensation
that I get while sipping that hot milk tea – the warm, soothing sensation that makes
my heart beat more calmly; that, when I close my eyes with its light taste in
my mouth, blended with its caramel-like aroma, feels like contentment. For
some milliseconds – just for some
milliseconds – right after I swallow a sip of it, I swear I can taste
happiness; that if happiness did have
a flavor, it must be my homemade hot milk tea.
That funny enlightenment about my
favorite drink suddenly reminds me of a quote by Gary Matthews, “
