A big mug sat in front of me, lemon seeds dotting the surface. Sugar crystals lay beside the mug, spilled onto the table despite my deliberate watchfulness to not spill any. It wasn’t as much carefulness as prolonging the time until I would have to touch my lips to the concoction in front of me. The brown mug, covered with spider-vein like cracks held a drink that I despised: tea.

Almost every morning, for fourteen years, I was faced with a mug of tea. It was the reason that I didn’t want to get out of bed. It was a jolt of caffeine that tasted like water. I can understand why people drink coffee, but tea? I wasn’t a big fan. The black leaves that sat in the bottom of the cup, like bitter shreds of confetti, were avoided at all costs as I took sips from the cup.

As the amount of tea in the cup went down I drank more carefully, and slowly, to avoid the shreds of leaves. Whenever I came close to finishing a cup I placed it aside, black leaves successfully avoided. Unfortunately, I was often prompted to take another mouthful. I acted like a sieve, separating the bitter leaves from the fluid they brewed in. It wasn’t how I liked to spend my mornings.

A few years ago, I put my foot down. Or, rather, my mug. I refused to drink the vile liquid it contained. It was an uphill battle to convince my parents to stop brewing tea for me each morning. They argued that everyone started their morning with a cup of tea, and that I wouldn’t be able to function without one. While I had believed that argument at first, I later realized that no – not everyone drank a cup of tea in the morning. I also realized that my parents and more than a billion people like them had become addicted to the caffeine and were no longer able to make rational decisions about tea drinking.

I drank tea less and less until I was no longer faced with a mug each morning. I was free!

Now though, I realize that tea can be pretty awesome. I realized that it wasn’t that I didn’t like tea; it was that I didn’t like the tea that I had each morning.

Earl Grey is one of my favourite flavours of tea, a black tea with a distinctive flavour and aroma from oil extracted from the rind of a bergamot orange. It isn’t black tea, it’s orange tea. It’s awesome orange tea. Earl Grey is a flavour that matches well with both chocolate and maple and that is what makes it a perfect base for a cake. The delicate flavour of Earl Grey is not overpowered by the chocolate, but instead enhanced with it. The maple meringue is also a subtle but tantalizing flavour that complements the cake.