Coffee Or Tea? - Why Not Both?

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If I had to put a label on myself, I'd say, "I'm a tea drinker". I was born among the so-called CoffeeSaxons in the south east corner of the country. But already as a child I moved to the north of Germany where we lived near the East Frisians, the world champions of tea drinking. They must have influenced me. So I'm a tea drinker. Yet, when I leave the house, I hardly ever drink tea. In fact, there are only few close friends at whose houses I drink tea. When I visit people I don't know well or when I'm in a café, I *never* drink tea. Why's that? The reason is that I always buy good leaf tea, Darjeeling and Earl Grey, which I mix - as a rule of thumb 3/4 Darjeeling, 1/4 Earl Grey. I prepare it well, it tastes wonderful. Where do I find such good tea so well prepared outside my home? Nowhere! I stopped asking for tea when I once visited coffee drinkers who I didn't know. I was asked, "Coffee or tea?" and without thinking I said, "Tea". I regretted it deeply. Strangely, they had tea at home but they didn't have the foggiest idea how to prepare it. They put so many tea leaves into the pot that an undrinkable dark, tar like brew was the result. Since then I always ask, "What do *you* usually drink?" and decline all offers of preparing something extra for me. I assume that people can prepare well what they themselves always drink. The good thing is that I can also drink coffee. If I visit someone whose coffee falls into the category 'Heart Attack', I ask for some water and a lot of milk. The best coffee is, of course, Italian cappuccino. Thanks to the influx of Italian workers from the 1960s onwards into Germany and the many, many Germans who spend their holidays/vacations in Italy every year, the Italian cuisine has become a part of the German one. (What did Germans eat before pizza and spaghetti?) Italian coffee bars and ice-cream parlours can be found everywhere. They're run by Italians and usually very good. You can buy coffee makers in all price-ranges. I haven't got one, though. I'm glad to say that I've got enough money to drink a cup of cappuccino in a bar whenever I feel like it. I've even trained two barista, one in our town and one in the train station in Stuttgart (~300.000 passengers and other people walk through it every day!). When they see me coming, they begin preparing the cappuccino I like without my saying anything! That's the way it should be. When one of them started pouring milk foam in the shape of a heart into the cups, I said, "Now I know why so many young women come to your bar." He replied, "I do this also for elderly ladies." Heehee. Yet, the best cappuccino is made in a bar in Florence opposite the church San Marco. Go and find out if I'm right!