Which will it be? Coffee or tea?

In retrospect, it's possible that my question to our Facebook fans was a bit dense.

"Coffee, tea or both — which do you prefer?" I wanted to know. That's right, I was asking a crowd full of tea lovers to state the obvious. But let me explain (and please hold your booing and hissing until you finish this blog post): I can't face a day without one cup of coffee in the morning. It seems to be an unbreakable habit of mine, no matter how many times I've tried to replace that cuppa' joe with a cuppa' Organic Assam Breakfast, Organic Earl Grey, or Organic Tamayokucha.

However! Tea has a special place in my heart in the afternoon. Back in my journalism days, it was quite normal for me to have an exhausting morning of interviews, followed by lunch at my desk while organizing notes, and then feeling bogged down by writing in the afternoon. Between 2 and 3 p.m. I'd generally look up and announce, "It's tea time!" to the newsroom, and see who wanted to join me standing at the hot water spout on the water dispenser, steeping tea and sipping it until my eyes felt un-crossed again.

It turns out, our Facebook fans can relate to this moment of serenity. "Tea — calming and centering," wrote Monique Fragua. "Provides pure bliss to my life each morning." And Jillian Garner wrote, "Tea! So much more variety, more relaxing, and doesn't upset my tummy."

I've never experienced tummy issues with coffee, but I know that many people, including our founder and CEO, Richard Rosenfeld, find the caffeine in tea (at least, the caffeinated varieties,) to be more mellow than coffee. Before he was in the tea business, Richard did a lot of work in Asia and began drinking tea, finding it had just enough caffeine to keep him alert without the jolt you can get from coffee.

Amy Baldwin Carrara was one Facebook fan to admit she drinks both tea and coffee, but depends on coffee less these days now that she's a fan of our Organic White Peony. Cheers to that, Amy!

Caron Somers describes herself as a die-hard coffee drinker until she discovered "London Fogs made with your Earl Grey tea — DIVINE!" A London Fog is tea with steamed milk ... a tea latte. That does sound divine.

And Evelyn Gonzalez agrees with Caron, saying she was a died-in-the-wool coffee and latte consumer, but as she found coffee increasingly bitter, she discovered two leaves and a bud online and hasn't looked back since. In fact, her teabag-only habit has now been replaced with a love of loose teas, including our Organic Assam Breakfast, Jasmine Petal and Organic Hojicha. Nicely done, Evelyn!

Coffee and tea demand equal space in my life. What about yours?

As for me, I see the benefit in both coffee and tea, and don't think my relationship with hot beverages has to be mutually exclusive. We can all sip together. Just don't stand between my coffee grinder and me at 7 a.m., or my electric kettle and me at 2 p.m. and everything will be all right.

What about you? Do you have a well-defined relationship with coffee, tea, or both?