Spring and Autumn (Fall for some of you out there) are my favourite times of year. I love the season changes and the unpredictable, sometimes irrational, weather patterns that come along with them. Right now, for example, I have been experiencing days that shift from glorious sun and blue skies to sudden thunderstorms. While I love the promise of a new season, this time of year presents me with a dilemma regarding tea drinking. When it can go from sunny and 75° F to torrential rains that chill me to the bone (I often get caught while out and about), do I drink my tea hot or iced? And it’s not just about temperature: weather affects my mood, and my mood affects what kind of tea calls to me.

For example, black tea (often with milk) tends to be a comforting, pick-me-up beverage, so I am more inclined to choose it on an overcast day when I am in need of a little energy boost. If it is beautifully sunny out I am less likely to need a boost, and might opt for a green or a white tea. These feel lighter in my system and seem more suited to a clear, bright day. And then, of course, there are all the different flavoured teas. Like most people, I tend to associate spices with autumn and colder weather, and fruits with spring and summer time. So I find myself turning to spiced teas such as chai less at this time of year, and starting to re-acquaint myself with my fruit teas.

However, in this period of changeable weather, these conflicting desires converge and I end up a bit all over the place in my tea drinking. I’ll find myself drinking a cinnamon spiced tea, but favouring a peach white tea immediately after. I’ll spend a good fifteen minutes (or more!) trying to figure out what type of tea I want, unable to accurately pinpoint my tea feelings as I intently analyse the weather outside my window. Sometimes, even after this deliberation I make a cup of tea only to realise that it wasn’t actually what I wanted.

But despite all this tea confusion, I manage to enjoy my tea. Firstly, I always have some standard go-tos that work for me year round, and secondly, this confusion is not necessarily a bad thing. It is just part of the process of shifting into the next part of the year. It is much like struggling to choose the right amount of layers to wear, or deciding when to start eating meals outside—it can be a fun challenge to figure out, and at the end of the day, even if it wasn’t exactly the right choice, you still end up with a delicious cup of tea.

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