[Avodah] Tea before Shacharis

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

In the thread titled "Shofar and guf naki", R' Micha Berger listed the tefilos which he says at home before minyan, and added:
> At this point I have my cup of tea and head off to shul.

I'd like to note what I saw in the Halichos Shlomo (psakim of RSZAuerbach) Chelek "Tefilah" 2:2:

"One who feels a need to drink before davening may drink coffee with milk and sugar, but it is probably best [ach yitachen shenachon] to say a Davar Bakasha beforehand, such as Shema Hashem V'Chaneni etc."

The notes there add that when RSZA personally did this, his choice was to say the psukim from "Aylecha Hashem Ekra..." to "...Hashem Heyeh Ozer Li." (Tehillim 30:9-11)

I found it very curious that this section does NOT specify what brachos, if any, he would recommend prior to the coffee (though I presume one would have to say Birkas Hatorah in order to say those psukim). I would imagine that the long Yehi Ratzon which is connected to Hamaavir Sheina would satisfy RSZA's requirement to say a Bakasha, which leads me to conclude that he said these brachos at shul, *after* his coffee.

Akiva Miller