Global Tea Time

 Today we travel to the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific. Specifically Palau. This nation consists of more than 340 islands in a 400 mile long chain. 2 main islands are inhabited, and the estimated population in 2020 is 16,600. The student population of the state university I live near is easily double that number! Their main income is tourism, and selling commercial fishing licenses to foreign countries. This tiny group of islands changed hands many times after their discovery by Spain. Spain, Germany, Japan, and the United States all claimed this territory at one point in time. An agreement in 1994 gave Palau its independence. Most of the farming is done at subsistence levels, with coconuts and copra being listed as the main crops. Given their tropical climate, their tea of choice makes sense.  Yes, I got out my trusty bag of hibiscus. The fine people of Palau like their tea with lemon as well. While I imagine they can go out in their yard (or local market) to get a n...

 Today we are exploring Guyana with some bush tea. Well, not really bush tea, I didn't go out and pick the plants to make the tea, but I used the closest thing I had. The package of medicinal herbals that I received as a gift a couple of Christmases ago. I looked, they had not expired yet.  Some of the ingredients used in these teas could easily be foraged locally during the warmer months. Echinacea grows wild out here after all. Since echinacea has already been done , I decided to make the breathe easy one for this post. This tea has a long list of ingredients, but there was one that came through loud and clear to me: licorice root. It was actually the last ingredient, but it was the main thing I smelled when I made this.  While this may look like yet another innocent mug of tea that I would gladly slurp down, that is NOT the case. I hate licorice. I mean that stuff is gag reflex worthy. I honestly don't remember if I tried a sip or not. All I remember is the strong sme...

 Today we travel to the only country in South America that was a colony of the Netherlands. Suriname is nestled between Guyana and French Guiana with a short coast on the Atlantic ocean. The landscape varies from flat, swampy land at the coast to inland forests and mountain ranges. Suriname is just north of the equator, and has a humid, tropical climate. Most of the country is covered by rainforest, and almost 4 million acres of forest are protected. The majority of the population lives along the coast, and people are descended from India, Africa, Indonesia, American Indians, Chinese and whites. Dutch is the official language but Sranan and Hindustani are the main languages spoken. Tourism, financial services, and mining are the main industries. Little farming is possible in this land.  The Surinen Indians were the first inhabitants of this region, and the country is named for them now. In 1593 the region was claimed by Spain, but the Dutch began to settle there in the early 1...