So, I thought I would talk about my progression into tea. When I was growing up, my family only drank herbal tea, and usually only peppermint tea. I usually had about four spoonfuls of sugar in my cup and enjoyed every cup. Once, when I was about nine or ten I was sick with a stomach bug, and we happened to have run out of peppermint tea. I had an uncle recently visit who enjoyed black tea, so there was a box in the house. My mom made a cup for me to help my stomach. I took one sip and never wanted to touch the stuff again.
Years went by, I left for collage, I stuck with the herbal teas, but ventured out in flavors. I browsed the tea aisle at the grocery store every chance I got. If I had a bit of extra money, I'd buy a new flavor and try it. I had quite the tea collection going. But all of it, herbal.
It wasn't until I met my husband that I actually tried black tea again. In the form of "sun tea". Again, lots of sugar was involved, but I was hooked.
When we met I had been listening to the artist Emilie Autumn for a few years. After we married I purchased the "Opheliac" companion album. As I listened to the story behind her latest musical album, and the frequent tea breaks I actually because a little obsessed with learning to like tea. Preferably with no sugar involved. After some internet searching I came across an article talking about the correct steeping times, which were much shorter then I had been steeping.
Meanwhile, my tea collection grew. Now I was adding REAL tea to my collection. Picking up tins at Big Lots, and stopping in the tea aisle at the grocery store every other week.
For four years I drank my way through boxes of tea. Replacing my spurts of only drinking Dr. Pepper while at work with spurts of only drinking tea.
Then one day I ordered a tin of tea from Emilie Autumn's website. It was loose leaf tea. The first I had ever bought.
Now, I did not immediately switch over. It was good, but it's a pain to make. You need a tea ball, or something of that sort. Too cumbersome for me to go to work with. But, my weekends were a different matter. About a month after that purchase I ordered a few samples from Old Wilmington Tea company. I'd brew a pot and drink it all myself. I'd do this all weekend until late spring where I spent more time outside working on the yard, and really only spent time inside to eat and bathe.
Then, in May (yes, this year) I was given a portable tea maker as a gift. It was perfect, I could store the leaves in the top part. Take it to work, and make loose leaf tea all day as I sat at my desk.
About a month later I determined that the downfall of my tea was the water at work. So I started bringing my own filtered water.
Now, my collection is vast. Tea flavors I haven't cared for have been abandoned in cupboards at work for others to try (someone must like it for them to sell it right?)
I still have quite a selection of tea in bags, that I'm working my way through. Of course the green tea is my husbands, as he has a cup every night before bed.
But I feel it will take a long time to get through the multitude of tea bags as I just can't stop drinking the loose leaf tea.
And yes, I have stopped adding any sugar to my tea. Except for iced tea or "sun tea" but that is a rare treat. For some reason I don't care for my tea cold and unsweetened.
Give me a nice warm cup of tea to relax with. It's great for those days at work when you want to cut someones throat with a piece of paper. (don't tell me you don't have those days) Just relax, take a few deep breaths, breath in the aroma and sip. If someone complains, I just say "I don't smoke, this is my break I don't get because of it." (not that anyone has complained, but you must be ready at all times to defend your tea!)
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