Glenn Gould:Tea?

["Anne M. Marble" <amarble@abs.net>]

Here's a weird question. (For those who prefer musical questions, this
isn't one of them. Maybe another time.)

In the novel "The Maestro," the character based on Glenn Gould drinks
licorice tea. Does anybody know if Glenn Gould really did drink licorice
tea? If not, what type of tea DID he drink?

I remember reading that Glenn took a lot of vitamins, so it wouldn't
surprised me if he bought herbal supplements as well. They weren't as
popular then as they are now, but they were still available.

But I wonder what he would have done if he learned that licorice can
increase the blood pressure! If he drank a lot of it, or took other
herbal supplements with similar effects, it could have caused his
readings to fluctuate. And the fluctuation might have caused him to
worry about his blood pressure again. (By the way, if you like licorice
candy, don't worry. The candy licorice sold in the U.S. and most other
countries is usually made from anisette, so it doesn't affect your blood
pressure.)

P.S. On the musical side, I am going to give a copy of Glenn's "Consort
Musick" to a friend and coworker as a going-away present. She loves
music, especially singing, and is actually familiar with Orlando
Gibbons. (She recognized his name when I used it in an exercise in a
computer course.) Maybe we'll have another convert. I've already
corrupted -- I mean converted -- my aunt and my mother. Even my father
hums along now and then.