Tea InfusiastWe all want to be good tea guests, right? Let’s consider why serious tea enthusiasts (and sometimes even intermediate tea lovers) can, despite our good intentions, be intimidating guests. And, let’s try to fix that. This post is Part Two in a two-part series. You may want to read Part One, What Kind of Tea Drinker Are You?, and take the handy quiz in that post, before reading on.
What kind of tea drinker are you? Why is it important to know, you wonder? Serious tea enthusiasts, I’m sorry to report, intimidate the general public. What’s worse, we also make our friends nervous.
This post is Part One in a two-part series. It shares a handy quiz to help you diagnose the extent to which your relationship to tea is likely to intimidate your friends. Part Two, What Kind of Tea Guest Are You?, shares advice on what to do about it.
I *love* sparkling tea. By that, I mean Camellia sinensis prepared with seltzer. (Depending on where you live, you might call it carbonated water, soda water, or something else.) This post shares some tips for making sparkling tea at home.
I have been learning a lot about myself lately–particularly lessons about authenticity. I am a long-time tea lover who has been doing extensive work around personal growth and building a deeper mindfulness practice in 2021. Tea and, now, meditation are daily practices for me. Lately, I have been doing a lot of thinking around issues of authenticity.
Afternoon teas are full of sensory delights–delicate porcelain, fragrant tea, fine tablecloths, tasty sandwiches, buttery scones, and dainty desserts. Still–I have a confession. Despite being a tea lover, I have a problem with afternoon tea.
When I say I love tea, I emphatically mean the beverage made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. I don’t mean herbal teas (AKA tisanes). My desire to drink tasty beverages, however, is greater than my ability to tolerate caffeine (sadly), so I am constantly searching for caffeine-free tisanes that I enjoy. I have been experimenting with tisane recommendations to match tea moods or preferred flavor profiles.
A delicious Boseong Hwangcha was my first intentional–and very delicious–encounter with Korean tea. It inspired me to make a resolution to learn more about Korean tea. At first, I wasn’t sure how to begin.
Have you ever toggled between reading two books and found a beautiful and fruitful convergence? That happened to me last week and it felt like a gift. It was as if the universe kindly underscored a message so I would be sure to receive it. That message was about rejecting a culture of scarcity.
Would you like to learn about tea from the comfort of your own home and have the opportunity to learn from experts who, perhaps, live far away? If you answered yes, then this post is for you! It will provide a curated range of virtual tea talks and workshops, broken down by type. I draw upon experience in this post. I only recommend online events by tea educators and tea businesses that I have attended and found worthwhile.
When I say I love tea, I emphatically mean the magical elixir you can get from steeping leaves from the Camellia sinensis plant. I don’t mean herbal teas or tisanes. I actually have a harder time finding tisanes that I love than teas that I love. Despite my preference for tea, I have been impelled to go looking for delicious tisanes because my desire to drink warm, tasty beverages is greater than my ability to drink caffeine. Sometimes, I need something caffeine-free.
