I love tea!!!! I like it as loose leaf, tea bag, or powder. Plain, Sweet, Southern Sweet (as long as it's sugar & not some fake sugar used) I can't help it, I just love it.
I guess that's partially because I've been drinking it for about as long as I've been alive. Doctors orders after all.
Tea is something that has many, many memories associated with it. Happy Memories, Sad Memories, Memories of Acceptance & Rituals, Memories associated with comfort, peace & friends. Memories of my 1st ever fight & note home from school too. LOL
I grew up spending a lot of time with people who where 59 and up. I spent a lot of time going visiting with my Gram and having tea. Both at home with her & with the neighbors, relatives and friends in other areas. That's partially how come I love it. And like I said it was doctors orders. The doctor I saw a long time ago prescribed me to drink tea when I was very, very young. So it's both safe & true to say I've grown up on tea.
Gram & I and sometime my aunt or mom or both would join us... We'd go visiting different neighbors & having real tea. Sometimes it was just tea. Sometimes there would be goodies too. Mostly it was just tea.
Tea was an art form and a comforting predictable ritual. The pretty cups, the heat of the water seeping through the cup to cold hands in winter, the change of color from clear to pale yellow or rose to a darker color (depending on the tea), a tiny bit of sugar or honey sometimes to alter the taste... Sometimes loose & funny looking especially as the leaves unfurled and others from a tea bag (Lipton's quite often). After everyone had been served and the adults had taken their 1st sip then I could begin. Waiting was always so hard for me especially when goodies also entered the equation. LOL Then there was conversation to hear (talk about politics, benefits, funerals, birth, life in general) & stories to listen to (Fables, legends, tall tales, bible, etc.) and always wisdom to be gathered. (for example: A stitch in time saves nine.) I learned many an important lesson with a tea cup in front of me. Sometimes bits & pieces will come floating back to me every now & then. Of course, I usually have a cup of tea in hand when it does.
So how does this equal my 1st fight & note home???
Well, real tea is what I knew & loved. So when I left the world of my Gram's I also left behind the world of tea. I was sent off to school where the other students where strange. There was a lot of strange things to do in school. I was pretty miserable because it was all so strange to me. I hadn't been around a whole lot of children at one time. I didn't get to interact with them much when I was with my Gram or with my mom & s-father.
For some reason the teacher suggested that we girls go play with the tea set. I didn't want to at 1st but then I saw the tea pot, tea cups & little cookies. Finally something I understood. So I happily joined in. I noticed that the others weren't doing it right but kept my mouth shut. It was when they started pouring & drinking that I got really concerned. Then I was handed an empty cup. I couldn't believe my eyes. there wasn't anything there. How could I drink tea without tea. So I said something. I asked where the tea was. That's when the laughter began. So then one of the girls called me dumb. I let her know I wasn't dumb and described how tea was done to prove it. She laughed & called me silly & dumb. So I punched her. which got me sent to the principals office and neither the teacher nor the principal knew what to do with me. Especially after hearing my version of the events & my questioning why we couldn't have real tea if we were suppose to have a tea party.
I learned about ritual teas when I was a bit older. That's probably not a good description of them. But it's the best way that I can describe them. Things had to be done in a certain order. There were steps to follow, a rhythm & order that had to be done for it to turn out. Some where for medicinal purposes, some where because of tradition (a time of year like winter/spring, holiday Christmas), some where lost into the depths of time as to the 5 W questions. The answer always being because it is.
I'll never forget the most special ritual tea that I got to encounter. I was visiting an elderly person who had gotten in a very special tea from her home land. She was excited to get it because it isn't something easy to get here in the USA. That was quite an honor to drink that pot with her. I'm forever thankful for my mom not caring about my whereabouts & for my dear, dear friend taking me to join him & his mom that day. That was something truly special. I wish I could remember what was said & how it was done. I was truly a stranger yet I was included that day. Oh so long ago... clear as if it happened 5 minutes ago and yet forever shrouded in time.
Since then I got older & got on with my life. Tea became out fashioned and dated. So instead of being feisty like I was that day in K. I changed. Tea sadly slipped to something to drink to quench a thirst or ease a problem. Until 10 years ago roughly. I got sick & the wise woman came to my mom and told her what I needed. I listened to the wise woman as her words stirred memory from my youth. The tea while harsh and nasty was hard to get down for me, but, every time I did I could feel it's power course through me and eventually I got better. This reawakened my love of tea. And I have been more faithful to it since.
To my utter delight I found a tea shop locally a few years ago. A place where I can get my teas & make my unique combos once again. A place where again good conversation & wisdom also flow. Because after all this time, I still love tea.
To update this I also found a really cool place online to get some great tasting tea from. It's called Teaporia and my aunt is an affiliate for them.
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