Tea made with loose, intact leaves is wonderful.  If you haven’t experienced it yet, a pot (or cup) of freshly made good quality tea can be a real eye-opener; it’s full of subtle flavors and aromas. Like beer or wine, tea can be described with a variety of words like malty, sweet, grassy, smooth, crisp, etc.  Good tea is quite unlike the supermarket stuff in little baggies – it’s well worth exploring!

Vietnamese coffee (often listed as cafe sua da on Vietnamese “pho” noodle restaurant menus) is incredibly good.  It’s perfect for me because I’m the only real coffee drinker in the house and this makes a flavorful, authentic cup of coffee for one.  Its intense, robust flavor is way better than drip machine coffee in my opinion.