Camel Tea

This morning I heard an advertisement on the radio.

Not very consciously. Just one of those voices drifting into the car somewhere between the news, the traffic and my own thoughts.

And then I heard:

“A lovely cup of camel tea.”

Okay.

Camel tea.

I drove on.

No questions. No surprise. Apparently my mind found it entirely plausible that by now we make tea from camels.

Perhaps from Morocco.
Organic.
Fair trade.
With a lightly desert-like character and a date finish.

Probably €4.95 for twenty bags.

I could already see it: a beige box with the silhouette of a camel at sunset.

Camel Tea – Taste the Desert.

Only a few kilometres later did something happen in my head.

Wait a minute.

Camel tea?

What do you actually make that from?

The hair?
The milk?
Does the animal have to stand in hot water for a while?

And above all: why had I had no objection to any of this for three whole kilometres?

Then the penny dropped.

Chamomile.

She said chamomile tea.

Of course she said chamomile tea.

And so I drove on, somewhat relieved but also slightly disappointed.

Because we already know chamomile tea.

But somewhere in my head, ever since this morning, a camel with a tea bag around its neck has been looking at me.

And I am almost certain what it is thinking:

You could simply have turned up your hearing aids.