BY What is your breakfast poison of choice?
For most, it’s black coffee. For others, it’s the humble milo. And to those who appreciate and love tea, it’s Teh Tarik.
Traditionally drunk in tin cans, the drink is considered a local love. When some move overseas, their constant attempts at preserving the local cuisine inevitably ends up with people pouring tea and transferring it from two types of cups, trying to get the texture just right. ( Endless Christmases spent in Hong Kong crying, “ WHY WON’T YOU FROTH?” using two chipped mugs and a Hong Kong milk tea from a restaurant come to mind.)
So, when you have a run that is dedicated to running AND the Teh Tarik, you sign up because you feel an affinity with the drink.
Up at the East Coast Seafood Centre, the excitement was palpable. For weeks, we have been receiving emails and guides on how to better improve your way to run 1km and drink Teh Tarik four times. This was the day where we would show off our skills. We will run. We will drink. We will swallow the less-sweet version of the Teh and repeat it another three times. We will then grab the tin cans and scream our triumph and be rewarded with another tin-can that would be our medal.
And that was what did happen on that day.
The race set up had an old-school feel, with paper letters designating where the start and finish was. Held by volunteers via two bamboo poles, everything was made to feel low-maintenance and yet so familiar.
With the signal to start, everybody raced off. Some chose to run the 1km and chug down the tea, feeling like quite the heroes as they swallowed down the reason why they were here that day. Other chose to be sensible and walked the 1km, slowly drinking the tea that was given and walking the route slowly. All in all, we thanked our respective gods or luck that we did not manage to feel sick afterwards.
The first 20 chiongsters who managed to resist their urges to be sick were rewarded for their efforts. They got their Finisher’s Medal, a tin can on a ribbon, and a packet of curry that they finished with relish, proud that they earned that curry they were eating right now.
Others finished the run slowly, got their medals and went off to eat prata with their kakis. The whole place was filled with much cheering, with runners yelling their numbers to the race officials to get timed properly.
The aftermath was also pretty much a great celebration of local cuisine. Many ate local food and cheered their friends on, others took the opportunity to take photos with the props and remember the time they drank four servings of Teh Tarik in the score of an hour. Many selfies were taken, friendships were forged, and some of them vowed that they would never drink Teh Tarik again, unless necessary.
That wouldn’t be too long however. Teh Tarik is such an amazing drink that it will inevitably remind people of home, and soon there will be people trying to take their racer’s gong and finisher’s gong to try and replicate their own version of the local drink. It might work. It might lead to much screaming due to spilled hot tea running down the back of their hands. But it will always remind us of home.
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