A Little Teapot

When I first wrote this post, it was long. Too long. It was this whole thing about my fibromyalgia, related reflux issues, beverage choices...on and on. It struck me as interesting but useless data. Perhaps another turning point in my writing? Who knows. But I digress...

This post is about Tea!

As you may know, I gave up soda and pretty much all things soft-drink a few years back...

This is where I went on about my reflux and you marveled at all the shit that's wrong with me and are grateful for your generally healthy metabolism.

I like Tea! And you know me, in for a penny...

Then there was the lengthy blah, blah, blah about NPR, TreeHugger, biodegradability & the lack of quality from a teabag.

So, when my supplies of Earl Grey started to run out, I stopped buying new bags.

Next came a completely pointless tangent about Captain Pickard, Star Trek, Earl Grey & my general geekiness.

I bought a tin of loose leaf. I had sticker shock at first. Then I did the math and realized that I was actually getting the same (if not more) cups of tea per Oz of leaves. The flavor (when brewed right) really is superior to my bagged tea. The trick is to give the leaves room to expand while infusing. The best cup of tea came when I simply chucked the leaves in an actual tea pot. This, however, is messy. I disliked cleaning the tea pot.

My moment of enlightenment had arrived! This is why the world moved to teabags. Tea is OK in bags and there's a lot less mess. DUH!

Let's be honest, I'm lazy by nature. If something is easy to maintain, I'll clean it. If it's a pain in the ass, it sits there. That's why the teapot sat on my counter for a day before I washed it and put it away. Man, it did taste better! But shit, I don't want to clean that pot again. There's got to be a way to have my tea and clean it too!

I then researched (this is me after all) the best ways to deal with loose tea. My research kept returning to French Presses. Eventually, I found out that Bodum makes a line of tea presses. I got the 2-Cup Assam. It's easy to clean and makes just enough tea for me. I love the internet!

Now the other issue. I drink more than 1 kind of tea. The grocery store carries a gazillion types of bagged tea, but very little loose tea. Again, the internet helped. Adagio Teas makes a huge selection of loose teas. They even list the average price per cup of tea. Not sure what I really wanted, I got two of their sample packs.

My tea arrived this morning. I want to dive in, but I can't decide which I want most. Then there's the excitement of mixing.

Final tangent about being overly excited about mixing tea-flavors and needing to get out more.

Anyway, I'm not going to tell you to run out and buy loose tea. That's a personal choice. I can tell you that the Earl Grey & Green teas I've had loose have been really, REALLY good. If the smells from my sample packs are any indication, the rest will be too. So, come visit and I'll make tea.

How almost British of me.