I grew up visiting my grandparents in Trinidad, and waking up there meant one thing: tea was already waiting. Didn’t matter what time I got up — 7am, noon, 2pm. Grandma and Grandpa had been in the kitchen. I’d hear them moving around before I even opened my eyes.
Nobody asked if I wanted tea. It was just there. That’s the whole thing.
They passed within months of each other — Grandma in August 2024, Grandpa in May 2025. Now I make my own tea every morning, and I think about that. How they chose me before I was even awake enough to choose anything.
What the morning asks for
The ritual now is mine, but the instinct is inherited. Every morning I open the cabinet and read what my body’s asking for. Not a fixed routine — more like a conversation. Allergy when I’m stuffy. Detox when I need a reset. Energy when the week is long. Hormones when it’s that kind of month. Something spiced when I just want to feel taken care of.
I get all my teas from Granel Spice Market in Houston — loose leaf, herbal blends, local, intentional. The kind of place where the shelves smell better than a candle store and the people behind the counter actually know the difference between a nervine and an adaptogen.
Three generations in a cup
There’s a photo of Grandpa holding me as a toddler, my dad standing right next to us. Three generations in one frame. I don’t know what tea they were drinking that morning in Trinidad, but I know someone made it. Someone was already up.
That’s what rituals are — not routines, not habits. They’re the practices that connect you to the people who loved you before you were old enough to know what love was. I didn’t choose the morning tea ritual. I inherited it. I’m just carrying it forward in my own kitchen, in my own city, with my own blends.
The blends
A fixed tea routine misses the point. The practice is listening. What is the morning asking for? That’s the ritual — not the mug or the kettle, but the pause to check in before the day tells you who to be.
The Morning Read
What your body’s asking for
Stuffy
Allergy blend — nettle, goldenrod, local honey. Natural antihistamine, no drowsiness. The kind of thing Granel keeps stocked all season.
Reset
Detox blend — dandelion root, burdock, milk thistle. Not a punishment. A clearing.
Energy
Green tea or yerba mate with a spoon of wildflower honey. Caffeine that doesn’t spike or crash. The long kind of energy.
Hormones
Spearmint, raspberry leaf, chaste tree berry. The month has moods. The tea can meet them.
Comfort
Cinnamon spice or Te Negro Granada from H-E-B. Just warmth. Just the mug.
All loose leaf blends from Granel Spice Market, Houston. Shop local, steep slow.
The morning practice doesn’t have to be complicated. It just has to be yours. A pause before the phone. A cup before the calendar. A few minutes where you’re choosing yourself — the way someone, somewhere, chose you first.
Just tea. And the muscle memory of being loved like that.
✦ ✦ ✦
