The comfort of a hot beverage

"Hot beverages are relied upon for waking up, punctuating workdays, gaining favour, welcoming home, relieving poorliness and lulling to sleep. They can be cheering, reviving, relaxing, cooling (if you’re hot) and warming (when you’re cold). And they soften the pace of life. You can’t guzzle a hot drink, it has to be taken slowly (making it the perfect way to measure out breaks), and while you’re sipping and blowing and waiting for that optimum comfortable drinking temperature, you can inhale and warm your nose with the aromatic vapours." Amy Fleming - The Guardian

My husband watches endless repeats of The Big Bang Theory. He loves it and the central character Sheldon Cooper, a brilliant physicist who is also 'on the spectrum'. The pertinent fact about this is that Sheldon, who otherwise has no empathy at all, is very quick to offer a hot beverage when somebody is distressed. His mother taught him that this is an appropriate response to emotional distress, even if you don't understand why they are distressed. And it always works. In television land anyway.

The other reason for this blog is the rather lovely art deco line drawing in my 2018 diary. I love my diary. It is produced by the State Library of Victoria and this year has been featuring art deco images from its collection. At the beginning of each month there is a collection of larger images and a short essay on the topic of the month - this one came from Dining which was February's topic. Each page of the diary has the usual days of the week facing a blank, but beautifully decorated page on which I write my weekly targets. I have found this to be a very satisfying way to keep a diary and to keep the various resolutions I have made. Well not always. Like all New Year resolutions, some have not been kept, but I have to say that the majority have. Mind you that's probably the result of trying to make resolutions that are feasible and not pie in the sky. Next year's diary is available now - it will be 'natural history up close' and next time I'm in Readings at Doncaster I shall be buying my copy. I already have appointments that need to be documented.

The hot beverage in the picture was one of the small images that decorate each blank page. It is purely art deco. Simple - straight lines, silhouettes, and classy - the combination of the circle and the lines, and the curly, vertical column of steam are what make it. I love it anyway. It's perfect and neat.

So I have been pondering on the comfort of hot beverages as I walked today. Actually just about anything you can say about it has been said already in the article in The Guardian from which my header quote comes. No surprise about that I guess. Somebody has already said everything that is in my head and more eloquently too. So do read it. As I walked I did also ponder on the notion of comfort itself as well. Maybe it's what we all crave most of all. The article suggested it may all even go back to the comfort of the womb. For womb substitute home - home being the place where you feel most comfortable and at peace, not necessarily a dwelling place. After all some homes are really not comfortable or peaceful.

What is comfort? We've spoken about comfort food a bit, but probably not really about comfort itself. Other words that spring to mind are cosy, warm, peaceful, safe and that lovely German word 'gemütlich' which seems to be all those things wrapped up into one. And yes a hot drink will give comfort. They have even done scientific research into this. People are nicer to other people with a hot drink in their hand apparently - it's been tested and documented. And it seems that this is because warmth and judgement are processed in the same part of the brain.

"the insula being the part of the brain in which judgments about others are formed, and also where we process warmth, as in the agreeable temperature range."

So hot drinks give comfort but they are also therapeutic in a medical sense too. For me, when I have a cold, the first thing I treat it with is a drink of hot lemon juice and honey. I first was given this in France where they also added a dash of brandy - I was thirteen I think and it really gave me a jolt and got rid of the cold. Not that it really necessarily has any healing properties. And when I gave blood, back in my student days, they always insisted on us drinking a hot, sweet cup of tea afterwards. Again, this would have done nothing to restore the blood. It was for the slight shock of having lost a lot of blood I suppose. Studies have been done with the same drink, hot and cold and it has been found that hot achieves better results. It's sort of like faith healing it seems to me.

“symptoms are what we feel, and what we feel can be influenced by our mood, our expectations, our culture, all sorts of things.” Professor Ron Eccles

And mood seems to be influenced by a hot drink. When you see people after a disaster in some kind of shelter you will often see them with a hot cup of something - probably tea - in their hands. It's the first thing we offer for shock isn't it? I'm sure you can think of many occasions when a hot drink has been of comfort. So this is about the only thing that Sheldon has got right about human relationships. Offer a hot drink to people in distress and they will feel better.

But drinking a hot drink can be a social even too which gives comfort in a different kind of way - companionship being the main thing here. There's also frequently a kind of social ritual involved, whether it be very formal like the Asian tea ceremonies, or informal like meeting with friends over coffee, or enjoying an English afternoon tea with all the trimmings. The implements used are important, whether it be a set of fine bone china or the carefully chosen mug that you use at work. The illustrations here are also from my diary.

What you put in the cup, or mug, or glass or coconut shell is a matter of taste, ethnicity and custom. In the west it tends to be tea or coffee, but we do also drink mulled wine - very comforting in the dark winter months, and various hot medicinal things. Ribena springs to mind.

So it's all good on the hot drink front. Or is it? There have been some who say that it is a contributor to oesophageal cancer. So far this has not really been proved and the most that people will say is that it might be a contributing factor. In countries where a large amount of hot drinks are taken - Asia, Africa, Latin America oesophageal cancer is more common - hence the concern. I suspect it's another of those 'anything in moderation things.'

In the meantime, have your hot cocoa before going to bed, and your hot coffee to wake you up in the morning and a sweet tea when you have had some kind of shock. Don't reach for the alcohol. That only gives false comfort for a short and brief moment. A hot drink is much more comforting.

And this is the mug I bought for my morning cup of coffee at work. I bought it in Eltham and so I have photographed it in the back garden. It seemed appropriate somehow. I loved it. The colours are gorgeous and the shape was - well - comforting. It just fitted in your hand beautifully. I don't use it much these days. David has given me a pewter insulated mug which I use - but it is not nearly as comforting as this. Maybe I should return to it. You can make your own judgements as to what it says about me.