My Hot Cuppa, an open book blog hop

 

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

What's your favorite hot beverage and how do you prepare it?
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I am a year-round hot beverage fan. 

I start with morning caffeine. 

Currently, that  might be Yorkshire Gold tea with a splash of milk in my Ember mug (which keeps it hot even I forget to drink it for a bit while I wake up), or Amor Prohibido coffee by Little Waves with some cream (because who doesn't love coffee that comes with an earworm) made with that new fancy pour-over apparatus I got for Chanukah last year, or a fancy espresso drink from Weaver Street Market or Hillsborough Cup-a-Joe (because coffee that comes with friendly people is even better). Which one is based totally on what I think will make me feel good that morning. 

Pourover in progress

In hot months, that might be all my hot beverages until my evening writing time, but in cold months, I'm likely to drink a variety of decaf and herbal teas across my day. The warm mug helps with my arthritis pain, or at least distracts from it. The steam opens up my head and the scent activates my brain. Tea is life. But I do have to limit my caffeine if I'd like to sleep come nightfall. 

Then, come evening, I nearly always have a cup of tea with my writing time. My two favorites for writing tea are Tension Tamer tea by Celestial Seasonings and Herbal Cold Care by Traditional Medicines. Both are soothing without making me sleepy, and now that I've been drinking them at writing time for several years, they "smell like writing." Just call me Pavlov's author. If I can't seem to fall into the zone, the tea always helps.

Lastly, I sometimes have a cup of hot cocoa, sometimes with a splash of Bailey's in it. Currently, I'm hooked on a fancy raspberry hot cocoa, but I also love Silly Cow brand, and sometimes like to try a new one from a chocolate shop or cooking store.

At the end of the day, my dishwasher is full of mugs! How about you? Are you a hot drinks person? What are your favorites?

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