From what I've observed, Egyptians will NEVER drink cold tea. I don't think any Middle Eastern/North African will, but I mostly know Egyptians (and some Iraqis, Lebanese, Syrians, Tunisians, Saudis, and Palestinians...none of whom drink it cold either). It is always hot, and you can have it with milk and even a little sugar (not spoonful after spoonful, though that could have been particular to the people I know). What you eat with it depends on when you're having it. When I was in the monastery of St. Shenouda in NY, the monks would have it after sunset in the evening so as to keep the fast, and it would only be after eating their one small meal (of ocra, rice, and/or an Egyptian bean dish called ful). But in people's homes, it is very common to have it in the morning together with a small egg sandwich (if it's not fasting time) or a little bit of ful and flat 'Arab' bread. That's how I liked it best, with the little sandwich (especially with spicy Egyptian pastrami and feta cheese -- yum!). Sometimes, but rarely, we might have it together with cucumber or tomato slices if we had limited time, like between the evening and midnight services during Holy Week, when we'd spend most of that time sleeping and hence only had a few minutes after waking up before we had to go back to church.
Oh, and once I had it with cactus, but I think that's pretty rare. They wanted to impress me with their 'exotic' dessert, I think, but they didn't know that cactus is also eaten in Mexico, so I had already had it.
(I've never liked it, but I was polite about it, and really the tea helped wash down all the little seeds quite nicely, so it wasn't that bad.)
Egyptians think that tea is some kind of cure-all, or at least the ones I know do. Got a cold? Tea. Worried about an upcoming exam? Tea. Stepped in a bear trap and are quickly bleeding to death? That's going to require a lot of tea. Tea for everything. Tea all the time.
