Look, I’m not a writer. I don’t even know why I started this blog, although I find myself impassioned by tea and I guess I felt the need to disseminate information about it.
I’m not an expert or tea master, either. But for some reason, when someone mentions tea my ears prick up and I feel the need to contribute to the conversation or answer a question about it.
Take yesterday, for example. My daughter and I were on the train leaving Montreal to come back home to Dundas, and I decided to settle into the trip by ordering a tea (Jasmine Green)*. The woman sitting across from us also ordered a green tea, and exclaimed out loud, “Jasmine is green tea?” So I jumped at the occasion to explain that jasmine was the scent added to the tea – the process involves piling the sweet-scented flowers onto the green or black tea so that the perfume infuses into the tea leaves. The woman nodded her head and politely said “Oh.” The conversation about tea ended there (I do know when to shut up), and we continued to talk about other things, and all in all we had a lovely time together.
So I realize that writing this blog is something I want to do. If you want to follow along with me, welcome! We’ll see where this goes. If not, go drink your Pepsi or whatever it is you drink and have a good day!
To get this conversation started, I thought I’d ask you: How do you take your tea? Are you a purist, in the sense that you believe you should not add anything to your brew? Or do you prefer to pour in a little milk and sugar? What about lemon or honey? Do you ever add spices to your tea? Also, do you use tea bags, or do you think the leaves ought to be loose? Let me know what you think, and over time I’ll let you know my preferences too.
Ciao for now.
* I thought I’d give it a try – I was reluctant to order tea on the train, as I’d done it once before and the “brew” was so disgusting that I had to throw it out. But, VIA Rail seems to have improved their refreshment options, and it turns out I wasn’t disappointed this time ’round. I was happy to see that it was fair trade, and the jasmine flavour was decent, allowing me to relax and enjoy the start of my trip.
