My name is Nataly. I have been drinking loose tea since I was child. I was born into Russian tea culture if you can call it that. In a somewhat barbaric way - my family's tea drinking habits were brewing a pot of black tea (no infuser basket) and leaving it on the counter for a couple of days for everyone to add boiling water and sugar as needed to drown out the bitterness. SInce I have low tolerance for bitteness, I've always added a lot of water - lol! When I was young, I also added a lot of sugar! No milk though. This is just my fmaily and most people I knew
I wonder if there is more sophistication these days. Moving to US, I switched to mostly teabags and morning coffee. Green tea at Japanese restaurants has always been a treat (as well as the food).Recently, I have accidentally reignited my interest in tea. My husband expressed an interest in a better tea, he was after some herbal and I decided to get some herbal loose tea and a teapot as a present for him. I ended up getting a tetsubin and some tea (I wish I hadn't now) from Teavana. Looking at some info there got me into more research and amazing findings: such as that strong tea doesn't have to be bitter etc.
Right now most of my tea is from Rishi as we try to buy organic and free trade is a bonus for me. My favorites so far are both Japanese and Chinese greens, jasmin green peal, genmaicha, and Rishi's China Breakfast in the morning. I also like flavored whites with some honey before going to bed, but I think this is changing since I am beginning to get bored with the flavoring, even the organic version... Haven't tried any woolong or pu-erh yet... So, looks like I am hooked. Interestingly, my husband, who was the initial reason I started looking into tea is kind of indifferent
He has already got me a tea present too though - a variable temp electric kettle, which I love.
Other than tea, I also like cooking. About 6 years ago I had a period of searching for a perfect cup of coffee, which left me with a nice espresso machine I still enjoy very much. Now it is the tea!
- Nataly
