How do you fit tea into your day to day life?
This is my contribution to the tea blog carnival being hosted by Adam from The Sip Tip. I encourage you to head over to his site to see how other bloggers responded to this same question.
One of my primary reasons for creating Tea Finely Brewed is to develop a deeper appreciation for tea, while encouraging others to do the same. Over the past year and a half, I have learned a great deal ? and this has helped me appreciate tea more.
And yet, to really appreciate the tea I drink on a day to day basis isn’t easy. It takes time and an investment of resources. When I first started the blog, I wrote:
I want to drink tea slowly, cherishing its aroma, warmth and flavour. I want to stop and appreciate the labour that went into producing that teaspoon of tea leaves. I want to take time to consider the rich history of tea, how this simple brew has played its part through history.
In February this year, I started freelancing as a WordPress developer. I do that a few days a week, and I still work part time for Travellerspoint.com, a travel website that my brothers started back in 2002. I’m also working on a new business with two friends of mine, which will be in the field of WordPress theme and plugin development. Plus, I have a 13 month old son!
My point is: I’m busy.
So then, how do I manage to fit tea into day to day life?
More specifically, how do I fit the appreciation of tea into daily life? It’s one thing to absent-mindedly suck down a cup while working, and another thing entirely to take the time to appreciate that cup.
For me, I think the single most important thing I have done over the last year and a half, which has helped me to appreciate tea in the way I described above, is to learn. Learning things like:
- How is tea produced?
- How does this tea differ from that one?
- How do I ascertain the quality of this tea?
- How do I describe this aroma, this flavour, or the character of this tea?
These are the kinds of questions I think about while drinking teas for review, and the practice of asking these questions has developed in me a different attitude towards drinking tea. Because I ask these kinds of questions, I am more attentive and reflective as I drink tea. It becomes a time of learning, not just about
So before turning the question over to you, let me encourage you to do one thing: Ask questions about the tea you’re drinking. Where did it come from? How is it different from the last tea you drank? Would you describe it as a high quality tea, sub-par, or somewhere in between? What flavours and smells do you pick up?
Now, your turn: How do you fit tea into your daily life?
The Devotea wrote:
I prefer to fit life into my tea. I work out where and when I want some tea, then work around it. A little planning and it’s usually easy, unless I’m visiting an unfamiliar city where it can be tricky to track down high quality tea.
alejandro wrote:
hello,
now, im drinking a high quality high mountain organic oolong tea from taiwan
last tea was a pu-erh more bark tree smoky flavor for winter so now im trayin this.
ooloong is floral, and more suitable for spring time
refresh my mouth in every sip, lots of flowers and a hint of mint, the after taste is awesome, ever later, during the day, if I ovserve carefully, im able to find some notes of fruits and flowers. in my tonge and palate, specially if that day im only on fruits n juices,
its easier.
I like to find time in the very first hour in the morning, when is quiet,after that may i no have time for tea, so i have to make the effort of brewein tea around 7am
i like to drink the same tea for a while to really know each other, like a friendship, cultivating the teapot, the flavor and integrating the diff, flavors in my life. to have a closer relationship.
have a nice day
alejandro
mel wrote:
i was just thinking about this earlier this week – about how everyone should have their own personal tea drinking ritual. i’m a pretty highstrung person unfortunately and tea drinking is probably one of the few activities that gets me to slow down and savour life. for me, it’s not such a technical/logical process (except if i’m at work tasting teas) but just lots of slow sipping, deep breaths and calm reflections
mel wrote:
I was just thinking about this earlier in the week. Tea drinking is one of the few actitivies that helps me to slow down and regroup so it’s essential I do it every morning with several deep breaths and slow, considered sips.
Michele wrote:
One of the great pleasures in life is taking a break and drinking tea. Tea is an amazing prouduct and diverse. There is a flavor for everyone and a different variety of ways to brew it.