Ramblings on tea (aka the best beverage ever)
I just realized after a conversation with a friend that I am a tea snob. I could be super into more expensive liquids like wine, but my one true beverage of choice is tea. One of the worst parts of anxiety was my inability to tolerate caffeine. For nearly a year and a half, I put away my box of tea and switched to decaf cappuccini. Experimentally, I had a cup of tea last summer and have NOT LOOKED BACK. HOLY COW HOW CAN ANYONE DRINK ANYTHING ELSE.
I love tea so much I don’t tell people I love tea incase they offer me a cup of tea and it turns out to be shit.
My daily staple is Twining’s English Breakfast blend. However, it must be bought in the UK. I tried my very hardest to find something comparable, but no. I get them in the box of 100 bags. The kind that comes in attached pairs of squares and there’s no string attached to the bag.
I will drink Fortnum and Mason’s classic earl grey like fish drinks water, the stuff is so delicious. Why, oh, why is their website’s shipping so expensive. Thirty pounds to ship to Canada?! For a box that costs 8.50?!
Man, I even love fermented tea. Kombucha gives me life (I’m not all that picky about my bucha though). I got into the buch before you could just walk into Costco and most grocery stores and find it. Before heading to a party at university, while my friends were at the liquor store, I’d hop into the grocery store next door and grab something from the fridge. I just happened to grab a bottle of kombucha one day and fell in love. Other kids had their beer, I had my bucha.
Chinese tea is good too. However, I do love black tea more sugar and dairy. Hong Kong milk tea is like literally the greatest invention ever. I have endured bouts of anxiety in exchange for a savory cup. (Basically a deal with the devil, but I just wanted a cup so bad…)
Anyways,
I’m a really particular snob. I can’t drink tea out of a mug with a thick lip. The inside of the cup must be white so that I can get my tea to the perfect golden colour. I use the same cup every day*. I know exactly where the water needs to fill up to, I know where to top up the cream to. I really won’t drink tea out of a travel mug. I won’t make a cup and drink it on the go. I need to sit down and enjoy my cuppa. The thought of my delicious morning cup is actual motivation to get out of bed. I don’t consider flavored teas tea – they’re more of a warm, flavored, water based beverage.
Tea is this and only this:
I like my tea with honey and cream.
Not sugar and milk. Idk if this is a thing people do, but I tried it once in my hotel room in London and have never turned back. I’ll remember that moment forever. It was just a regular bag of Twinings that looked a lot like the ones I had at home, but it just blew my mind how much better it was. I’ve tried researching to see if there’s an actual difference, but I can’t find the evidence. But I don’t need published evidence, the difference is night and day. I have been ruined forever. I have NO IDEA how I was once okay with a cup of tea from Tim Hortons.
My roommate in first year was also super into tea. I would say that I’m really passionate about my daily cup of tea, but Ying was passionate about TEA – Like, picks her own tea leaves passionate. Like, told me about her dreams of owning a tea shop along her home town river passionate. I don’t think anyone I’ver ever met knows more about tea. She kept a store of some very expensive stuff she brought from China in our fridge. She would hold tea ceremonies all the time. Like, there were constantly strangers in our living room drinking tea. She had enough tea sets to fill a museum. Man…she made such good tea…
Yum. Tea.
x.
kl
*For my birthday last year my best friend got me a replacement of my favorite cup. I only wanted this one cup. No other cup will do. I should probably keep a cabinet of them incase they stop making them. Proportionally it’s the perfect cup.