Tea and Crumpets

[talon]

I usually have tea and crumpets for breakfast, sometimes with fruit, sometimes not.

Itzl loves tea and crumpets. Most days, however, he loves his turkey/rice/cheese breakfast better.

Today, he wanted hot tea and crumpets so bad he was shaking. He laid himself down in his bed on my desk and stared longingly at my toasted crumpets, licking his lips as if he were utterly parched and moaning very softly. I could tell he was moaning by the rise and fall of his sweater. He would cut his eyes over to me to see if I was paying attention to him. Even though my crumpets were a mere handspan from his bed, he didn't reach out to sniff them or try to lick them (Xoco tricks to get what she wants). He was waiting to see if I would put pieces of my crumpet in his dish and pour some tea into his bowl.

If I don't give him tea and crumpets, he will refuse his own breakfast. He will lie in his bed until he needs to alert me on something, then he will alert me, and flounce back into his bed with a deep and dramatic sigh, cutting his eyes over to me to see if I see just how mistreated he is.

If I give him a few pieces of buttered and toasted crumpet and pour him out a thimble-full of tea, he will daintily eat and drink them, then he will eat his own breakfast and spend the rest of the day cheerfully doing his job and greeting visitors with a happy wag of his tail instead of a despondent droop.

I will, of course, give him his tea and crumpets, but only after I've completed mine. I am his handler and pack leader, and from me all good things flow. We both know he has to do his job whether I treat him with tea and crumpets or not, and he will do his job. That doesn't mean he can't tell me, all day long, just how mistreated he feels if he doesn't get his tea and crumpets.

I think, perhaps, he's become a Tea Snob. Today's tea didn't come in a tea bag (which I keep on hand for tea emergencies and when I run out of the Good Stuff and have forgotten to bring more of the Good Stuff), but was a loose leaf black Nilgiri blended with a black Keemun and a green first flush Darjeeling, lightly scented with rose and jasmine. He prefers loose teas over bags and has been known to turn his teeny little nose up at tea bags that are more dust then fannings. He also likes his tea very milky and sweet.

He is a fan of black teas and pu-erhs, and will take oolongs if they are fresh, loose, and strong. He doesn't like white, yellow, or green teas, unless they are brewed precisely the right way and are sweetened with a touch of brown sugar or honey, and won't drink rooibos or most herbal tisanes other than all the mints and wintergreens. He likes floral scented blacks, but not Earl Grey, preferring the sweeter, lighter Baroness Grey. He doesn't care for most masala chais, but he does like some. I think it's the balance of spices he's refusing - too much clove or pepper makes him curl his lip. He likes boba teas in hot weather, milky, sweet, and those tapioca pearls. He doesn't eat them, but he likes licking them. Xoco devours the tapioca pearls and begs for more, so getting them both a small boba tea in summer is a happy treat for them.

I wonder how Itzl developed into a tea snob?