My brother Dave and his wife, Anke are “in the neighborhood” right now, having brought me here from Gustavus on their boat, Slacktide. They anchored in Mud Bay, and have the use of our guesthouse whenever needed. If they stay on the boat, they’re just over the ridge. Yesterday, they didn’t come over as planned. Aly and Michelle hadn’t seen the new boat yet, so in the late afternoon, we hiked to the bay to see them. We hailed them from shore, Dave came over to pick us up and deliver us to the boat, and immediately offered us something to drink. For Aly, he offered a strange “tea” that they’d been given.
They had recently encountered a touring kayaker whose wife had recently reprovisioned him before his stores had run out, so he gave them the excess goods. They received a lot of organic and whole foods products, none of which had labels on them. One plastic bag held a substance that they assumed to be tea, but they described it as a sweet, almost caramelly flavor, like “brown sugar tea.” Aly felt adventurous, and agreed to try a cup.
When they pulled out the bag, we examined and tasted it. The “tea” was actually an unrefined sugar, possibly fructose! In other words, it wasn’t really tea at all, but sweetener.
But, what the heck? Dave mixed some up in hot water, and Aly enjoyed a sweet hot drink. I imagine that will be the last time this “tea” will be used for that purpose. Then again, with Dave and Anke, who knows?