12 ways to drink tea during motherhood.

TEA… a simple but effective brew, served-in-my-favorite-mug, nothing rivals it, hot cup of tea! The answer to a crazy day, a sleepless night, a worry, is and always will be, tea.

The perfect beverage for all occasions, moods and times of the day. It accompanies you during the late nights when you REALLY should be in bed and props you up during the early mornings, when you really wish you had gone to bed. For me the day doesn’t really start till I see the bottom of my first cup of tea.

Tea, this faithful friend has accompanied me through my six years of motherhood. It has served me well.

Here are 12 ways mothers drink their tea.

1. The ‘I-swear-I-must-have-reheated-this-friggen-cup-of tea-five-times’ tea. Because some days I’m losing my mind and cups of tea simultaneously. Mothers are continually distracted in our tasks. The chorus of ‘mummy mummy’, the soundtrack to our existence, sends us off course and ensures we leave our cups in random spots around the house. Some just seem to vanish for eternity. Well, until your toddler miraculously finds that 3 days-old cup and empties it on your cream sofa.

2. There’s your fast on the run cups of tea, (The I-GOT- ABSOLUTELY-NO-SLEEP-LAST-NIGHT-but-need- to-soldier-on tea) . When you fill your extra-large thermos with strong black tea because you’re going to need continual hits of caffeine to keep you going during those school runs, grocery shops and errands.

3. There’s the victorious cups of the good stuff. Because sometimes the stars do align and both kiddies actually nap at the same time. It’s time to chalk up a mummy win and saviour the silence with a mug of tea and a big smug old smile. Gaze out the window and take 10 long deep breaths mama.

4. There are cups shared with friends, where biscuits are dunked or extra-large slices of cake cut and devoured, motherhood tales exchanged, toddler meltdowns recounted and sleepless night commiserated. The perfect balance of laughter and tears, tea and crumbs.

5. There are the cups made for you by someone else. It may happen rarely but when it does…it’s like you can actually taste the love in your tea cup.

6. The Fancy cups, because sometimes a mama wants to feel like a lady and drink from a posh cup (I have one for such occasions). Best sipped when children sleep. Fresh loose tea leaves seeping and diffusing in the teapot, poured slowly into elegant bone china tea cups. A sacred ritual, a momentary journey to an ancient tea ceremony.

7. Great big mugs full, when any tea will do. You need volume. You need its warmth and comfort to go on forever. Because mothering is love and joy and happiness but also exhaustion and frustration and tears.

8. Medicinal teas. A Mama's medicine cabinet in a cup. Soothing peppermint, calm your nerves camomile, ginger, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, hibiscus, jasmine, rosehip, mint, rooibos (red tea), and echinacea. Tea to stave off a cold and bring on restful sleep. .

9. The warm-your-cold-hands-around-a mug-during-or -following-an-outside-adventure kind of tea. The it’s-cold- out-there-but-my-goodness-it-felt-good-to-breath-in-that-sweet-air-and-feast-your-eyes-on-the-beauty-of-nature kind. A reward for your exertion, a quiet moment to saviour it as you put it all down to memory.

Little Green Lives photo by Magnolia coasts photography

10. The this-is-the-worst-tea-I-have-EVER-tasted (raspberry leaf) tea, but if it’s truly toning my uterus and will result in a fast and painless labour I will drink it by the bucketful. I did this with all four of my babies and it served me well.

11. The I-have-put-myself-in-a-Mummy-time-out tea. The I’ve reached my limits, I need to regroup, I just need 5 minutes to myself cup of tea. So, you slink off to a hiding place with a cup, hoping to return with a renewed patience.

12. And finally The I’ve-just-given-birth tea. I have a brand new tiny human asleep on my chest. The most delicious, well-earned cup of tea of your life. You can barely drink it for smiling. IT can be ANY tea, weak, strong, hot or tepid, but it has never tasted sooooo good, best accompanied by buttered toast, (in the UK, tea and rounds of toast post-birth come as standard.)