“A day without tea is like a day without sunshine”
– Said, somebody somewhere (there are lots of quotes like this)
Anyone who knows me personally, knows I have a slight obsession with tea…
And when I say slight, I mean slightly more. I drink roughly 6 cups per day. I think this is normal, it is in my family at least! For me, growing up in a British family (how stereotypical) I can’t remember when I first started drinking tea, I must have been that young. Either that or the few thousand cuppas I’ve drunk must have made me forget about those first few.
Funnily enough, I never used to like tea – I just drank it for the sake of it, because that’s what the rest of my family did. But I can’t actually remember when I started liking this incredulous substance. It was that long ago.
Tea for me is comfort.
It’s a warm hug in a mug. It is what flows through my veins, I’m sure of it. It is my life force and my fuel for the day. It’s my primary method of coping with stressful situations. It is my signature and it is my strength and weakness.
I love everything about it: the buying of new teas (and loose leaf in particular), the making, the teapots and cups and mugs that you drink from and especially the drinking. I enjoy drinking tea out and having it at home. Taking tea in solitude for quiet contemplation or enjoying the moment or with friends. I thrive on drinking tea before, during and after meals, while I cook and while I watch a movie. Furthermore, the experience of making tea for appreciative others and having a drink made by another fixes me. I also, unfortunately for them, relish in educating people on tea and its proper brewing. (I’m sorry for all the past, present and future times I do this, it is only out of love)
When people are obsessed with coffee to the point where they can’t function in a morning without it… This is me with tea. I’ll drink it at 8am with breakfast and at 2am before bed. That’s not to say I hate coffee or don’t drink it – in fact, recently I’ve been drinking coffee more than ever before, but I’m still trying to learn what I enjoy in regards to coffee though. However, and this is an important however, it is just not (and will never be) my cup of tea.
Tea is an integral part of who I am and how I live.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Want something read while you have a cuppa? Check out this post: How to be a writer
-Joseph
P.S. Heck, even as I’m writing this I have a large mug of tea
