Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Confessions of a Mad Tea Junkie

Hello. My name is Mindy, and I am a tea junkie.

It all started a few years ago, on a cruise, when I sampled some passion fruit and jasmine white tea. From there, I branched out to Earl and Lady Grey, black tea, green tea.... Then my SIL started push--er, distributing the good stuff.

Now, I buy my tea by the half-kilo. Currently, I have at least four different varieties on hand.


In the beginning, I had the simple ball tea strainer. Then I moved up to what I call my tea gnome. I love it's fine mesh and the fact that I don't have any leaves drifting through my tea. But that wasn't enough. I have to have my tea even when I travel. That's what the mesh spoon is for.


Sometimes, when I feel like living on the wild side, I use my three-piece tea cup. Its holes are large, so I always have tea leaves in my drink. But it's fun to change things up once in a while.


And then, there's my tea tin. This is how I travel with my tea. So far, I haven't been stopped.


Just look at this Cream Earl Green. So beautiful. And so good for you.
 Loads of antioxidants.



What's your beverage of choice? Your splurge? The one you've just gotta have? And how far will you go to make sure you have it?

25 comments:

  1. Hi Mindy,

    Coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon.

    Darjeeling is one of my personal favorites. Others depend on my mood. I have a chamomile with lavender that my daughter gave me for Christmas along with a Winter White Earl Grey.

    And to make it perfect, the tea really needs a scone to accompany it.

    I saw a recipe for Meyer Lemon scones I intend to try out.

    Cheers!

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    1. Mary, you are right about moods and tea. I'm tend to go for the same one for my first cup,or two of the day, but beyond that, it's anybody's guess. That's why Inhave to keep so many varieties on hand.

      And I love me a good scone. Coffee, however.... Love the aroma, can't stand the taste. I've tried. Repeatedly. Just can't do it.

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  2. Oh my stars.

    Who knew?

    Inside the rustic Texan meat-smokin' cowgirl lurks an Austen-esque embroiderer.

    I'm a bit overwhelmed by this and might have to step out of the room.... breathe deeply..... Because I haven't been this surprised since the late 80's when a movie whose name I recognized actually won an Academy Award...

    You are truly a junkie.

    And it's TEA....

    Mind you, I'd understand if it was my counter full of Keurig supplies and K-Cups to delight all ages and palates, but this...

    This takes work. Effort. Possibly even planning.

    Was that a shudder that just ran through me????

    And someone...

    GASP!

    Must clean the paraphernalia.

    Is that spelled correctly?????

    Mindy. Mindy. Mindy.

    I salute you. I stand amazed, but also awed. Just a little.

    Long live the Lonestar Tea Drinking Society.

    I'm hoisting my Gloria Jean's Butter Toffee mug of joe in your honor!

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    1. Ruthy, as usual, you crack me up. But who knew this little ol Texan could shock you so.

      Austen-esque? Hardly. No embroidery for this chick. For starters, I couldn't see to thread the needle:-)

      As for the paraphernalia, the dishwasher does the cleaning. However, when I empty my tea leaves in the sink, my hubby tells me it looks like chewing tobacco. Eewww.

      Lonestar Tea Drinking Society? I like it. I'll have to pass that one on to my SIL.

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  3. Mindy, I love to see all your gadgets and teas! That's a massive amount!

    And LOL, Ruthy! I don't think I've ever seen you so flabbergasted! :)

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  4. Mindy, I also meant to say to look back at Oct. 10. I posted about my favorite teas! :) You may find something to try. :)

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    1. I remember that post, Missy. That's the one where you had an oops in your microwave, right? You're right, I need to go back and look at that again. And when you come for conference--HINT, HINT--I'll have to send you home with some samples.

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  5. Mary, I still haven't tried making scones. Thanks for the reminder!

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    1. Ooo, you think we could talk them into doing tea time at conference? :-)

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  6. Mindy, I'll take you up on that! I just registered for conference the other day. :)

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    1. Really hoping I can make conference this year.

      PS - trying to change my profile name to avoid all this MaryC confusion.

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  7. Tea! I love tea!

    I'm with you, Mindy. Can't stand the taste of coffee. I heard somewhere that coffee love/hate is a genetic thing. Some people love it, some can learn to like it if they cover up the bitter taste with lots of cream and sugar, and some will never like it, no matter what.

    But tea.... You have me swooning over tea paraphernalia (Yes Ruthy, I looked it up. You spelled it right.) It all looks so Downton Abbey :)

    I love to try different teas, but so far I've been sticking with tea bags. Maybe I'll add something tea related to my birthday wish list.

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    1. Jan, I get the idea you and I could have a good time together.

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  8. Mindy, you asked: "What's your beverage of choice? Your splurge? The one you've just gotta have? And how far will you go to make sure you have it?"

    I'm so boring. I'd like to say "a nice stiff bourbon" or "Diet Coke" or "Warsteiner Dunkel" (btw - that's absolutely the best beer ever), but, alas, no.

    The beverage I can't live without, will spend tens of dollars on, will go out of my way to obtain is...water.

    Preferably purified, with ice.

    I'll drink it from a bottle if I have to, but I love the water/ice dispenser in my fridge - purified water and crushed ice WHENEVER I WANT IT!

    Sigh. What luxury.

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    1. LOL! You're not boring, Jan. And in some countries, water IS a luxury. I love my water too. Rarely order anything else when I go out.

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  9. You're a gal after my own heart. Love all the teas stuff (not way I'm going to try spelling that para word -- not with the Grammar Queen on the loose over at Seekerville!!!

    I have this nifty mug that has a defuser (sp?) that sits on the top. You put the tea leaves in the defuser and pour over boiling water and voila perfectly steeped tea for one.

    I only drink herbal though. Love fruity combinations like cranberry and orange and peppermint. Such a soothing tea. I think I need to go and make a brew.

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    1. Kav, I was going to mention my Hibiscus tea but I wasn't sure that counted as tea to a real tea drinker.

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    2. Kav, you'd better not let me see that mug. I might just covet it.

      I enjoy a good fruit tea once in a while, so long as it's not overpoweringly fruity.

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  10. I do like mandarin orange tea. That's probably babyish to a real tea afficianado...

    And that might need only one "f" but I'm too sleepy to look it up.

    GQ in Seekerville....

    Gadzooks, I run in FEAR because Grammar Queen has no sympathy with the way I butcher language and sentence structure...

    So I just smile and remind her that it's a conscious blend of lyrical prose and conversational English.

    Just enough to annoy the dear girl! ;)

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    1. The GQ come after you? That's hard to believe:-)

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  11. I'm a tea person but weird thing is I really only like it hot (and I mostly use tea bags with the occasional loose tea -lot of work involved with loose though teavana's snow geisha and the green tea/lemon strawberry/something else I mixed together a few times was awesome) for tea bags I love those 3 piece cups - I'm able to fish out the bag no problem! I'm not with it enough to know all the ins and outs of tea - I take the hot water from the 'cooler' at work and it better be the right temp - also dont' have time to steep - one tea was horrible after steeping the recommended time(stash lemon ginger green tea - that ginger was hot!)but after a minute or so it was just right for me. I also don't like lady grey - earl grey I like but there's something in that lady grey that I haven't figured out(and haven't looked too hard either!) don't like licorice in my tea either and haven't been a fan of chai so far...and in the tea swap I do online i'm one of the few red tea fans though I dont' drink it nearly as often as I did when I was no caffeine - decided the stress of work required some caffeination!

    susanna

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    1. Susanna, it did take me a while to figure out how long I like my tea to steep. Some I steep longer than other, but generally it's around three minutes.

      I keep my bags stored in the cupboard, but I have small jars on the counter that I keep my tea in so it's nice and accessible. If it wasn't, I'd probably stick to bags.

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