Today, something quite unique happened to me.
That something was I sat down to sample and review Basilur's White Magic tea. Within ten minutes of taking that first sip (or slurp as I was encouraged to do today!) I had gone online and ordered 100 teabags of the aforementioned tea. Now, this is a very lean pay month for me with several birthdays and Mothering Sunday to cater for, however, sometimes, you just have to say 'sod it' and treat yourself.
Some tea's I've fallen in love instantly with. Others have been a bit of a slow burning romance, where a little more love is developed with each new cup tasted. But, with this White Magic tea something happened. I knew I had found 'my' tea. Just like Earl Grey, Lady Grey and Gunpowder Green, White Magic tea has now established itself onto my list of tea's that will always stay with me. I'm sure, in the future, more will be added, but at the moment it's a bit of a elite list!
But it's the experience I had today which makes me feel so grateful that I'm a tea blogger, and more importantly, a tea lover. I don't drink alcohol, which sets me apart from my people of my own age. Tea is my vice.
To most people, tea is just tea, right? It's just that brown liquid that you rush down before work, or which you may have on your tea break. To me, though, it's something different, far more important and it's always valued. Each sip appreciated.
I have a physical and emotional attachment to tea. Nothing brings me more joy then walking into a shop and browsing the tea aisle. Or, visiting one of those souvenir shop's in London with the bestie, and finding out they do the cutest tea caddies, then looking at the maker of the tea and realising it's a damn good brand, a win win.
Tea has seen me through some of the most horrendous moments. The breakup of a long relationship and the subsequent loneliness that followed. More tears have been shed into a cup of tea then into my pillow. Nursing a friend over the phone when she lost her much wanted baby, sitting in a hospital waiting room, scared stiff about what was going on with Mum. Those moments have always been soothed by a cup of tea - where there is tea, there is hope.
And of course, the good times, too. Laughing on the sofa with my bestie, gentle teasing by my boss (who I do actually like!) memories of my Dad drinking one cup after the other - chain drinking I suppose!
There are so many emotions tied up with the art of tea drinking. My tea drinking started seven years ago this year, and the journeys I've been on, with tea in hand are quite staggering.
And then there is the blogging. The people I have met, from other bloggers to those who own their own companies, or who work for famous tea brands, or who simply love to read about and try new tea's. There are so many people who I now consider friends, and whom I would not be without. For as much as their is physical comfort in drinking tea, there is love and support from other tea lovers too.
So it does irk me a bit when people look at me and say "but it's just tea ... just tea". For me it's not. It's a lifeline, a passion, one of those things I simply cannot do without. Just like some people cannot do without coffee, or chocolate or cigarettes.
Yet, there seems to be a stigma around tea drinking, that it's somehow boring or nerdy. Granted I suppose it's not as sophisticated as drinking a frothy latte or whatever the coffee thing is, but there honestly is just something so special about tea. I mean, who doesn't love a Gunpowder Green or a satisfying mug of Earl Grey?
I am not ashamed to stand up and say "my name is Laura, and I love tea". In fact I wear my love of tea like a badge of honour.
And I know I will never loose that feeling of excitement when I see a new blend of tea, or a lovely new caddie in a shop, or when I stumble across a new tea shop. And for that, I consider myself extremely fortunate.
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