Tea for an Indonesian
I love tea in general, as an Indonesian I grew up drinking tea. Tea in Indonesian is Teh (Téhh). At home I would have drank black tea no sugar, hot water with just a dash of cold water. Not too hot, but still warm enough to soothe you. Just right.
Everytime my mum comes home from the office. I would make her a cup of tea, hot water with a dash of cold water. Just right.
When I feel slightly sick, a cup of black tea, will always helps soothe it. When I feel cold, hot tea is also the answer.
If I visited a relative or neighbours they always serve tea with sugar call Teh Manis. Sometimes accompanied by Marie Regal Biscuits, in England this is similar to, rich tea biscuit, to dunk in the tea.
On a really hot day walking back from school, I would stop at a warung, a convenient little shop in people’s houses selling all sorts, to buy es teh. Es teh is basically is sweet tea frozen in a plastic bag, you eat it by biting the end of the plastic bag, and drink the solid ice tea block, almost like ice lolly. It was Rp. 25 when I was in primary school. I am not sure whether they still sell this or not and how much would they cost now.
At junior highschool (13yrs+) I start buying cold Teh Kotak (Co-taa-q ; boxed tea) or Teh Botol ( prncd: Boat-oal; bottled tea). These mass produced tea was solely produced by Sosro. Now I think they are owned by Coca cola. Anyway, you can still buy teh kotak and teh botol, now, I think this is a must have if you ever visit Indonesia. A lot of us lived by this beverage.
I think flavoured tea started when I was in senior years of my highschool, 16-17yrs, it started with lemon tea and peach tea etc, all cold. But Teh botol kept on being the number one type of cold bottled tea Indonesia prefer to drink. Of course you can order usual teh manis in most eating estblishment, if you want to, you tend to get sweet tea anyway if you ask for tea, unless you tell them otherwise.
Where am I going with this? Well, I have been thinking about tea, I want to discuss more about tea in the future, I thought I should give you a kind of of a background my , and perhaps other Indonesian’s relationship with tea. Apologies for the lame attempt on ‘the pronounciations of Indonesian word.
My fellow Indonesian, did you have the similar experience or connection with tea? or is it completely different?
By the way what do think of my tea cup and batik parang illustration?
Me too, I love that illustration 🙂 I am not really a tea drinker and I don’t understand why people are very fanatic with Teh Botol. My apology. I am more of a coffee addict though. However, I love drinking sweet tea (preferably traditional tea) when I am visiting my families back home. It is humble tea, as I call it. I have a weird habit, I like to buy unique-flavored tea and stack it up at home. If I have a cuppa then mostly it is green tea or jasmine 🙂
hihi thanks. You dont have to apologise for not liking Teh botol. I am not a fanatic myself, for me it has more of a nostalgic value. Love coffee equally. Jasmine and green tea I think would sit up there with earl gray for me. 🙂 Teh poci is the best…yumm
Teh botol Sosro FTW! I swear nobody makes tea like Sosro. Gue jadi inget dulu pas masih skul, gue kebetulan nemuin satu toko jualan bahan makanan Asia en ada duong teh botol. Langsung gue beli walaupun overpriced en pas minum, gue mewek karena it made me terribly homesick. How mortifying.
Gue juga lebih demen teh daripada kopi. Paling doyan oolong tea.
Mungkin rsep rahasianya kayak rsep KFC…hahahaha..:)
Just like many other Indonesian, I grew up with tea and grow old with coffee haha btw love that ilustration, If you also have a darker batik background with coffee cup on it, they will make an awesome pair!
hmm I think I love both despite being ancient. I think growing old just makes me have rituals, tea in the morning and coffee in the afternoon. 🙂 Good idea..I shall do that for my coffee update.
When i’m in Indonesia, the first thing i always look for is teh botol! So you can imagine my delight when i discovered you can buy one litre size in the supermarkets. Heaven!
hahahaha! yes, I buy the littre ones here when I go to London. I am sure it is easier to find Indonesian food in Australia.
Lovely. I am a sucker for tea. I drink at least 4 litres of tea a day. No I am not joking.
I’m thinking of travelling across South East Asia at the end of this year. Def. need to check the Indo tea scene out 😛
4 litres? that is immense. Really? re. south east asia. How lucky. is your year in holland over now?
Hehe really. I’m notorious for being a tea maniac. My exchange programs in NL ends this may 20. I will then travel a bit more in Europe before going to Africa for summer. Then back to Korea in September to finish my study lol
argh..I am Jealous. If you are coming to London we can meet up or I can show you round..
Tea is fun!
I love trying out new tea.
I’m a tea person anyway, not so fond of coffee.
My favorite Indonesian tea is probably the one I drank when I was in Bali.
I do not like the tea leaves produced by government farms (ptpn). They taste weird and expensive, too!
Really? what type of tea was that in Bali? and where did you have it?
I was in Denpasar, I think. I do not have clear memory. It was years ago and I had a lot of tea in Bali.
I love the thick jasmine tea I had (in another place, but still in Denpasar). It was very dark but not bitter at all.
I heard that the tea is now sold in big supermarket and free duty shops. It is contained in carved wooden box.
Ow, my favourite tea is jasmine tea..
LOVE that illustration! Would like to print and hang in my kitchen 🙂
and yes i love tea too, warm tea for winter and cold jasmine one with lime for summer . I love fresh mint tea and ginger tea too…
Wow thanks! Thats a huge compliment. I can send you a bigger file, if u really like it. 🙂