Finding Travel Bloggers

One of the most popular pages on my website is my 100+ Travel Blogs accepting Guest Posts. The benefit of hosting and maintaining this list is that I get lots of great emails and comments from fellow travel bloggers and expat travellers. The other day I got an email from a blogger requesting to be added to the list and when I visited her website and was immediately attracted to her “Expat Life” content, and one featured article about her Ode to Coffee.

It’s that article that inspired this month’s Expat Blog Carnival takes a closer look at the Expats Guide to Coffee and Tea.

Coffee, NY-style

I was reared on tea (aka “hot-tea” in the US), and switched to coffee when I crossed the pond. When I first arrived in the US it was the pre-Starbucks era and I was converted to the mighty bean via the frenetic pace of New York’s deli counters, where the seemingly rude morning routine of ordering your coffee grated of my frail British sensibilities for politeness.

If you joined a deli counter line for your morning java, you better be ready to shout what you want the guy behind the deli counter locks eyes with you. If you were too slow, you lost your turn to the highly strung New Yorker waiting in the wings behind you. These tightly-wound natives were ready to scream “Coffee. Light and Sweet” at the glance of an eye.

It took multiple visits to the deli counter to get over my natural British reserve. It took weeks to get comfortable with screaming “Coffee. Black” at the counter guy .. with no hint of a please or thank you required or expected. It was a sad day when this great New York deli tradition was usurped by Starbucks.

I can’t wait for my move to Turkey and I’m determined to learn how to make the perfect cup of Turkish Coffee. I even wrote a poem on my Bodrum website entitled “Turkish Coffee is my Cup of Tea” – that’s how inspired I am about it!

I’m not the only one who is caffine-inpsired, here’s a collection of blog posts from global expats about their search for a taste of home or their adventures as they seek and and taste the new flavours of their expat life.

1. Postcards from the World

Anna is the Polish blogger who inspired this Guide to Coffee and Tea blog roundup. She used to live in Scotland, but has since moved to Chile. She doesn’t know for how long, but while she’s there she’s learning Spanish and exploring the culinary delights this South American country has to offer.

Ode to Coffee

I really got used to the fact that I am an alien, but still dearly miss that magic of adoring the mighty black liquid gold in a charming café in Montmartre or in the Elephant House in Edinburgh where Harry Potter was born. Living an expat life means sacrifices sometimes. It is inevitable to miss some things, little details of everyday life. 

Spoilt by the coffee-house culture of Europe, Anna is disappointed that it’s non-existent in Chile. You can read the rest of the “Ode to Coffee” Article on Anna’s blog.

2. A Lady in London

This expat blog features the adventures of an expat Californian living in London and travelling the world. This expat lady discovered that it wasn’t quite so easy to order a cup of tea as she anticipated.

Lady Learns the British Tea Culture

As frustrating as these experiences can be for expats, when I look back on how much I struggled to do something as simple as order a cup of tea when I first moved to London, I have to appreciate that I even survived. Renting a flat, navigating the immigration system, and applying for British citizenship were all a lot more complicated than that first cup of tea.

Don’t even get her started about trying to order a cup of coffee! You can read the rest of the “Lady Learns the British Tea Culture” Article on her blog.

3. Lost in the Pond

Laurence Brown of Lost in the Pond blogs about the numerous language and cultural differences between his homeland (UK) and his adoptive country (US). He’s an expat powerhouse and his blog is on the forefront of US vs UK comparisons.

How the US taught me to love coffee, by a British Expat

…. there are two things the United States has in greater abundance than England: 1) coffee; and 2) the individual desire to succeed. In my case, it was a quest to achieve the latter that necessitated the latte. If I was going to live the American Dream, however unconventional my route, I was going to do it with the following three things as my guide: a keyboard, The Beatles album Rubber Soul, and coffee.    

It may have taken Laurence many decades to over-come his aversion to coffee … but by the end of his first cup stateside, he’s was smitten and there’s no looking back. You can read the rest of Laurence’s “How the US taught me to love coffee, by a British Expat” article on his website.

4. Expat Edna

Edna is a Pennsylvania native who left home at 18 to work her way around the world. She’s a bit of a foodie who’s currently living in London, but is always on the prowl for good food and drink in the countries she visits. A camera in one hand and a pint in the other… she’s obviously integrated well into her adoptive British lifestyle!

How to drink tea with jam in Azerbaijan

The jam is served in a large bowl along with the pot of tea. If sharing with others, you spoon out a little bit of jam for yourself into a smaller glass container. Then you simply put a small spoonful of jam in your mouth, and sip the tea through the jam. 

I think this tradition is one that you have to try just once. I wonder if it works as well with Green Tea and Orange Marmalade? You can read the rest of Edna’s “How to Drink Tea with Jam in Azerbaijan” on Edna’s expat blog.

Coffee and Tea play an important part in culture in many places around the globe. If you’ve written an article about getting to grips with a cup in a different culture, leave me a comment below with a link to the blog post and I’ll add it to the roundup.