Tea Time

We've already established that I'm old. Pursuant to my embracing of that fact I've started getting into tea lately. This started out of necessity, as my stomach can no longer take 8 hours of constant coffee consumption, but has grown into something I really enjoy.

There are just so many varieties of tea out there. If you handed me a cup of coffee (please do by the way), I might be able to tell you if it was a medium or dark roast, but I'd be completely oblivious as to whether it was a Brazil or Costa Rica or some other blend. I'd enjoy it no matter what, but a coffee is pretty much a coffee to me. But a spicy chai, a floral or minty green, or an earthy (I'm not even sure how to describe it) black tea, are completely different experiences. At my local coffee shop you can walk in and find an entire wall full of different teas to pick from. It's amazing to think you could go months and never repeat the same flavor.

I've never been crazy about flavored coffees, they always feel like the flavor has been awkwardly grafted on–it tastes artificial or cheap somehow. There are some varieties that I do like but I could pretty much always take or leave the flavoring. But with tea all of those dizzying varieties of fruits and spices: cinnamon, apple, lemon, mint, honey, or fig, they're all integral to that blend.

Just recently I've decided that I'm into this whole thing enough justify spending a bit of money on the other trappings and paraphernalia that go along with making tea. I bought a decent tea pot with a built in infuser for one thing and that's been great:

The press feature is really nice because, as with a french press, you can just compact the leaves to keep them from steeping rather than needing to take the basket out and set it somewhere and make a mess. And it means that I can heat the water up once and have several cups rather than have to keep making single cups.

You can really go crazy getting into tea if you want. There are different types of pots ideal for different types of teas, there are numerous specialty shops that you can order tea varieties from, and there are many different ways to infuse and prepare a pot. Tea is ancient, so it can also be interesting to read about the origins of different varieties, the rituals around brewing them, and how different groups approach preparation and serving.

I'm really just dipping my toes into this world right now, but I'm having a lot fun so far, and my stomach and nerves are already thanking me.