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Portable Electric Kettle Review: Traveling with Tea

This post reviews a balbali portable electric kettle (AKA mini kettle) and shares some different approaches to traveling with tea.

Balbali portable electric kettle with a measuring tape on one side and the detachable electrical cord on the other
The personal-size balbali portable electric kettle is compact,
roughly the size of a commuter mug or thermos.
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Blog

Complicating “You Can’t Pour from an Empty Cup”

Reading Tricia Hersey’s critique of the maxim “you can’t pour from an empty cup” got me thinking.

Are you ready to get poliTEAcal, Tea Friends?

Teacup with a few drops of tea in it, poised as if ready to pour.
You can’t pour from an empty cup.
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How to Enjoy Tea When You Can’t Taste

After losing my sense of taste while having COVID, I’ve pulled together some tips on how to enjoy tea when you can’t taste anything.

I read about people who lost their sense of smell and taste while they had COVID-19. For me, however, it was hard to fully appreciate what that would be like until I also temporarily lost these senses. Tea is an important part of my life. So, I was determined to find a way to continue to enjoy tea when I couldn’t taste or smell it.

Colorful gold and blue teacup and saucer on vibrant red cloth
Colorful teaware and accessories can brighten
tea time and the mood.
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What Can a Tea Pet Add to Your Practice?

What can a tea pet add to your practice? So many things! I’ll focus on three here, and then share about a special tea pet, Herb the Traveling Tea Turtle, that visited me.

clay tea pet in shape of a ram
Rocco, my first, and so far only, tea pet.