Tea'm Sweet Leaf

When friends and relatives visit me here in Austin, I make sure to warn them about the tea situation.

Firstly, if you ask for "tea" at a restaurant in the South, you're likely to get cold, unsweetened tea. You need to be specific and say "hot tea", if that's what you want. Similarly, if you order an "iced tea", you'll also get cold, unsweetened tea--which we Canadians almost universally regard as totally gross and undrinkable. So to get the sweet cold stuff, you need to order a "sweet tea". Get it? They're all about specificity.

It sounds simple, but after a lifetime of ordering tea a specific way, this new format takes some getting used to, and I've pretty much resorted to not ordering cold tea in restaurants. But Sweet Leaf Tea has been one of my go-to bottled teas since I first moved here. It's not as sweet as most Canadians are probably used to, but it's good nonetheless, and the company is Austin-based and they use organic ingredients and real sugar and everything, which is cool.

Anyway, up until now I've neglected to mention that I'll be riding in the MS150 as part of Tea'm Sweet Leaf, who are an awesome bunch of folks, and who I'm totally excited about hangin' with. If you're interested in cheering us on or following our exploits, you can check out our Facebook group here. Go tea'm!