Tea Break on the Road to Paro

In Bhutan, the world turns on a cup of tea. If you go for a meeting in an office, someone will bring you a cup of tea. If you go to pick up a friend, you must go inside the friend’s house and have a cup of tea before you set off to wherever you are going. You can count on frequent tea breaks wherever you are. If you’re tired, tea wakes you up, nervous: tea calms you down. If there is a crisis, the first things is to make some tea; it helps sort things out. Regular tea in Bhutan means tea with milk, or Everyday milk powder, and a little sugar. Naja is black tea—with sugar but no milk. We all need a little metaphorical tea in our lives. We need a way to slow down and commune. We need a little nurturing, especially before we tackle something big and ominous. It's a little cup of home. It's remarkable how just that one gesture can renew and revive. I suppose it doesn't have to be tea. But there's nothing like a nice cup of Darjeeling.