Coffee? A wee dram of the water of life?

Highland tea [image from Upstairs Downstairs]

Here in Scotland, it’s called uisge beatha—whiskey, the water of life. The first time I heard this was my first morning in Scotland. We were staying in a castle-turned-hotel outside of Edinburgh, and staring at the bottles of whiskey strategically placed along the breakfast buffet. When I saw the “full Scottish” breakfast—black hockey pucks of blood pudding, baked beans, pots of porridge, stewed tomatoes, and of course, haggis—I reached for a bottle.

Of course, now that I live in Scotland, I don’t blink at the bottle’s appearance at every possible event. In fact, on a typical January day here in Glasgow (we haven’t seen the sun this year so far), I’d like to invite all of you to pull a chair closer to our fire, hold out your cup for the water of life…