Does hot tea go with High Cool? Only if you're sitting directly beneath the blower, in this blogger's opinion.

Maybe I shouldn't admit to this, but I'm having a hard time getting in to hot tea lately. It's the temperature outside, which even in the Rocky Mountains is hot enough to make me question anyone anxious for a steaming cuppa' tea.

I was feeling pretty guilty about this, so I took a look around the office this afternoon at 2:30. First observation: Our swamp cooler was set on "high cool," and the front door was closed to keep the cool air in. Next observation: Although it's 2:30, when lunch comas are setting in and people are turning on the electric kettle for afternoon tea, the kettle was sitting on the kitchen counter, looking kind of lonely.

Moments later, Richard comes out of his office and presses the button to activate the kettle. "I drink hot tea all the time. I'll have just kayaked in Baja, where it's 115 degrees, and I'll sit on the beach with a cup of hot tea," he tells me while I stand there looking mystified. I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised — the guy does own a tea company.

Gigi has some tea on her desk, the same White Peony she drinks every day, but it has gone lukewarm at best. Kelly has a cup of Better Morning Blend on her desk, but she hasn't touched it since this morning. And Phil claims he's not drinking tea today to avoid caffeine before playing soccer later today. I don't push him toward the herbal teas we offer, partly because he already knows about them, and partly because I can't in good faith push anyone toward a cup of hot tea when the mercury goes above 87.

The truth is, my favorite thing to do at home these days is to steep a cup of Tropical Goji Green and then dump it immediately into a pint glass full of ice cubes. It's still tea, but it doesn't have that steam-in-your-face quality that I prefer in February, not July. Next step: Lobbying for ice cube trays in the two leaves and a bud freezer, which is tiny, mostly because of a two-inch thick layer of ice buildup. But then, if it was any bigger, I might spend the rest of my day there.