The Worst Cup of Tea

Nick’s tea was magic.

Not in the “wow, this is so good” way—more like the “this is legitimately having a magical effect on me” way.

Customers at The Warm Mug would occasionally find themselves completely at peace after just a sip of chamomile, or maybe emboldened after a cup of masala chai. Most didn’t realize that Nick was the reason, and those that did kept his gift a secret.

“Here’s your strawberry honeysuckle white tea; it’s already been steeped,” Nick said as he placed a deep green mug in front of a middle-aged woman. She’d clearly been crying before she came in the tea house.

Some of the regulars perked up when they heard Nick mention the tea had already been steeped. They shot covert glances at the woman and smiled to each other.

When she left The Warm Mug a half hour later, she seemed…different. Still sad, but not hopeless. There might have even been the ghost of a smile on her face.

Soon after she left, the door opened again with the soft jingle of chimes.

“Welcome to The Warm Mug,” Nick called absentmindedly as he washed a cup. He only looked up when the customer was already at the counter.

“Bree?”

The young woman looked at him in puzzlement before her expression changed to surprised recognition. 

“Nick?”

He smiled awkwardly. “Uh, yeah, it’s me! How have you been? You’re out of school now, right? Well, I’m assuming you are; it’s been six years after all, unless you…” He trailed off. “Anyway, yeah, how was college?”

“It was good,” she said. “I’m actually still in school—getting my master’s.”

“Oh, that’s cool. In what?”

“Biomimicry engineering.”

Nick faltered.

“Bio…what?”

“It’s kind of niche,” Bree said. “It’s basically using stuff in nature—like, say, um,” her eyes lighted on a mug with a butterfly on it. “Like spider’s webs, to make engineering designs.”

“Wow, that’s… That's really cool,” Nick said. “How did you get into that?”

One of the regulars coughed into his hand, and Nick—and Bree, for that matter—could very clearly hear him say, “Take her order.”

“Oh right, sorry, my bad,” Nick laughed as his face turned red. “What can I get you?”

“Um…” Bree said, searching the menu. “Do you have coffee?”

The tea house went quiet.

Nick laughed nervously again. “Well, no, not really.”

Bree realized her mistake, and her face started to go red.

“Oh, well, it is literally called a tea house, I probably should have known that…"

“No worries!” Nick said quickly. “Uh, we actually have a mushroom tea—well, it’s not really a tea—but anyway, it kind of tastes like coffee, do you want to try that?”

“Oh…mushrooms?”

“I promise it’s better than it sounds.”

“Um, sure. Let’s go with that.”

After paying, Bree shuffled to a table in the back of the tea house, trying not to die from embarrassment.

Nick, on the other hand, was trying to focus on making the mushroom coffee and not overthink every single syllable he had said. He sneaked a quick glance at Bree.

Short brown hair, large rimless glasses, green eyes—she looked much the same as she had in high school, yet also different. Something in the way she carried herself felt familiar to him.

“I think you’re about to burn yourself.”

Nick stopped pouring the boiling water into the mug just before it overflowed. He looked back at the customer who had moved up to the counter. Dane, one of the regulars. He and his wife came to The Warm Mug every Tuesday and Saturday.

“Thanks, Dane,” Nick said sheepishly.

“No problem.” Dane looked over at Bree. “So, is she your crush or something?”

Nick’s face turned red at an impressively fast rate.

“No! She’s, um—”

“Ah, I see,” Dane said, tapping his head knowingly. “Me and Maggie could tell.” He looked at the mug of mushroom coffee sitting on the counter. “Are you going to, like—” Here he made a hand motion that clearly was meant to be sparkles.

Nick just raised an eyebrow at Dane.

Dane huffed. “Listen, if you had an… ability, let’s say, that let you affect people’s emotional states, would you consider…” 

“If I had an ability like that,” Nick said, “I would use it with extreme discretion and only when I believed someone genuinely needed it. You need anything else?” He finished in a tone that indicated the conversation was over.

Dane put up his hands in surrender and returned to his seat.

The truth was, Nick had been considering using his gift—the one he definitely didn’t have. Each tea—and that’s what this mushroom “coffee” actually was—had its own special attributes that Nick (hypothetically, since he didn’t have a gift) could draw out, and he had a sixth sense that Bree needed what this particular blend’s attribute…

Meanwhile, Bree had been scrolling on her phone for the past several minutes. In part to forget the awkward exchange she’d had with Nick. She remembered him from high school but didn’t know much about him aside from the fact that he’d been pretty quiet. Her friend, Anna, had mentioned that she thought Nick had a crush on… 

“Here’s the mushroom tea—already steeped,” Nick said as he approached Bree’s table, weirdly saying the last part in a low tone. Still, Bree could see the other customers glance her way.

“Um, thanks, Nick,” she said. He looked like he wanted to say something but then seemed to change his mind and quickly walked back behind the counter.

Bree was wondering about that as she took a tentative sip of the mushroom coffee. And…

Wow, it was awful. Was it really supposed to mimic coffee?

She tried not to let the disgust show on her face, pretending she was intrigued with the tea house’s decorations. She had to admit, she liked The Warm Mug’s vibe. It might be a good spot to come during the next few months while her family…sorted things out.

Nick came to her table again a few minutes later. 

“What do you think?”

“It’s, um…” 

Nick’s face fell a little at her hesitation.

“Do you hate it?”

“It’s awful,” Bree admitted. “People like this?”

“Well, it’s definitely not one of our most popular items, but we have a few regulars who swear by it.”

“I’m tempted to swear about it,” Bree muttered.

Nick hesitated at that, and then started laughing. Bree kept frowning at first, but then herself smiling.

“So why a tea house?” she found herself asking. “Why not a coffee shop?”

“The owner wanted to try something different,” Nick said with a shrug. “There are like 20 coffee shops in the area.

“True, but at least they’re not trying to pass off this…” She waved toward her mug, “as coffee.”

“Well, to be fair, this is a tea house, and you chose the one item on the menu that isn’t really tea. And not really coffee either.”

“Touché,” Bree replied.

Nick pulled up a chair, and Bree—funny enough—found that she didn’t mind.

“So what are you doing back in town?” he asked. “It’s the middle of February, so it can’t be your winter break.”

Bree looked down. “Oh, yeah, um…”

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it,” Nick quickly said.

“No, you’re good, I—well.” Bree heaved a sigh. “My parents are getting divorced. I wanted to be here for my sisters. They’re both younger than me and still at home.”

Nick’s expression shifted from playful to a more…genuine expression. Understanding.

“Bree, I’m really sorry. I know how much that sucks.”

And she believed him.

“Did yours…” she asked.

“Yeah, during my freshman year,” he said. “It really rocked me. I left college and came back home.”

Bree nodded. “I get that. I actually don’t know what I’m doing about school now.” She put her head in her hands. “It’s a lot.”

“How are your sisters handling it?”

Bree laughed ruefully. “Not well. Katie—she’s seventeen—is angry and lets Mom and Dad know it. Marley stays in her room all day. I can barely get her to talk.” 

“I was kind of a combination of both of them,” Nick said. “One day I’d be furious, and the next…”

“You just wouldn’t care,” Bree finished. Nick nodded. 

“But you did,” she continued, her gaze shifting to look at nothing in particular. “It was just that the pain was a dull ache so deep inside your chest that you didn’t know what to do with it.” 

Bree refocused to see tears forming in Nick’s eyes, and she realized the same was happening to her. 

“Sorry,” she said, forcing out a laugh. “I didn’t mean to tell you my whole sob story.”

“It’s okay,” Nick said. “I get it.” 

At that moment, the entrance door jingled, and Nick looked to the front.

“I need to go take care of this customer,” he said, looking back at her, “but I want to hear the rest of what you have to say afterward, okay? Please don’t leave.”

Bree just nodded, and he went up to the front.

While Nick took the order, she took another sip of the mushroom coffee and felt herself calming down a bit. Becoming a bit more grounded, a bit more clear-headed.

Over the course of the next two hours, Nick and Bree continued talking in between orders. Not just about Bree’s family, but also about the past few years. The highs, the lows, the weird moments. They laughed, they cried, and each felt a bit of a spark that they didn’t quite admit to themselves.

“Well, my sisters will probably be wondering where I am,” Bree said eventually, getting up reluctantly.

“Are you gonna come back?” Nick asked as he also stood. His face turned a bit red when he asked the question, but he held her gaze.

“Yeah. Yeah, I will,” she said. “Thank you, Nick. Really.”

“Sure thing, Bree.”

Bree walked out of the tea house, her footsteps a bit steadier than they’d been in a while and a smile she couldn’t wipe away on her face.