My Eight Glasses a Day

I never really cared for water. I know, though, that Nea cares for it a lot. Oh, and I mean the drinking kind. I'm not a big water drinker. I feel like after a while, my mouth will taste bitter and...you know...like flushed out. And that is not a very good feeling for me.

I wonder how this will affect my future children (if any). I mean, parents are supposed to teach their kids healthy habits, right? Drinking eight glasses a day would, I assume, be one of the basics. I remember my father, in my very few memories of him, trying to eat vegetables without throwing up just to show me that eating veggies will make be strong and healthy. Will I end up drinking water, maybe with my eyes closed, just so my own children will learn it?

Of course, that is IF it's really true that we need 8 glasses or about two liters of water everyday.

So am I dehydrating myself, you say? Nope. I really like soda, but because of my expanding hips and widening thighs, I prefer to take what I think is a healthier choice in tea and juice. The juice I drink is horribly watered down, so I can cut the sugar, but at least my drinking fluids don't taste so bland.

And there's tea. On lazy days I just pick up a liter (or now a 1.5L) bottle of C2. I prefer the regular variety. The others with artificial flavorings just make me puke. But I think the star of my tea drinking life is Chrysanthemum Tea. I discovered this a couple of years ago back when One bottled tea still produced it. When they (I think) phased it out, I was totally bereft of the only liquid that CAN make me drink the recommended two liters a day.

So when I moved here, the one of the first things I did was to look for Chrysanthemum tea in the bigger groceries, only to find none. It was only recently that I was able to find REAL dried Chrysanthemum flowers in Ongpin. They look like this:

So you of course make them laga in a pot for five to ten minutes. I prefer my Chrysanthemum tea as is, but the Chinese people in Ongpin swear by it's extraordinary taste when mixed with green tea. But on its own, it has a nice sweet, clean taste and delicate aroma. If you get white flowers the tea should have a mellow yellow color. If you get the bright yellow ones, you get tea that has a very happy golden tint. I also like it cold, though I can imagine it will be just as delicious when hot. Although I did find that making the tea too cold or icy is not that good because you lose the little nuances of its flowery aftertaste. The guy who sold the stuff said that is has a cooling effect, and yes, it really does!



A kilo of these dried flowers will cost around Php80-100 and will come wrapped in Chinese newspaper. Haha. There are more expensive versions sold in sealed tin cans, but according to the tindera, the taste is just the same, and it is only the packaging that makes it expensive. Recently, we went back to Ongpin and I discovered instant Chrysanthemum tea. It's in granulated form. Kinda looks like birdfeed:
And so I can make Chrysanthemum tea here in the office. The one I bought came in plastic Ziploc bags (hopefully melamine-free) for Php80 for a half kilo. It's already a little sweeter than the usual because they added honey, but it's good. I just put around 2 1/2 to 3 tablespoons into my liter bottle. I love it. Hope you get to try this or make your own!