Welcome to a TeaRoom Teaday. I hope you can stop by often and share what is in your cup today, all day.
Yesterday, responders "comfort zone" was across the board when it came to tea. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's interesting topic.
Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic. Reading the replies yesterday made me wonder, how would you BEST describe your "relationship" to tea? Passion, hobby, beverage, habit? Please share why.
I am looking forward to sharing our interest in tea, today. Bottoms up.
Oct 24th, '08, 22:29
Posts: 20891
Joined: Apr 22nd, '06, 20:52
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Back in the TeaCave atop Mt. Fuji
Saturday TeaRoom 10/25/08 passion, hobby, beverage?
Last edited by Chip on Oct 29th, '08, 23:54, edited 1 time in total.
Most definitely a passion! I have much enthusiasm and desire for tea and to talk about tea.
That's why I'm here.
That's why I'm here.
- Victoria -
http://victoriasown.blogspot.com/
http://victoriasown.blogspot.com/
All of the above 
.
It started as merely a favorite beverage, then moved to habit (addiction). In the past couple of years became more of a hobby, but now it's truly a passion. And it's still my favorite beverage and it quenches my thirst.
Finishing my last cup for the night (10:30 here) - 4th steep of Darjeeling 22 with a bit of peppermint added. Oh, but looking forward to some sort of lovely green in the morning. (Will check in after a night's sleep and a few hours of AM gardening.)
. It started as merely a favorite beverage, then moved to habit (addiction). In the past couple of years became more of a hobby, but now it's truly a passion. And it's still my favorite beverage and it quenches my thirst.
Finishing my last cup for the night (10:30 here) - 4th steep of Darjeeling 22 with a bit of peppermint added. Oh, but looking forward to some sort of lovely green in the morning. (Will check in after a night's sleep and a few hours of AM gardening.)
I had a late cup too DotK - just got home from dinner and shopping, a real treat on a weeknight for me. We went to my favorite Italian place and I packed a fill you own bag with oolong. I had been rushed at work to finish and get out on time and was lacking my afternoon tea. The waitress took an interest and it turns out she was a tea lover too. I told her about our board, but who knows if she'll come, she said she would! If so, welcome Stephanie!!
A little shopping followed and I picked up the new formula Chanel No 5, wow.
Off to bed now, an early morning for me tomorrow.
Night all!
A little shopping followed and I picked up the new formula Chanel No 5, wow.
Off to bed now, an early morning for me tomorrow.
Night all!
i voted for passion, fixation, madness. but i also think of tea as a teacher or a guide that leads me to ideas and experiences and weird bits of lore and culture that i might not ever come across otherwise. sort of a vegetative spirit familiar who keeps me company or offers healing or alters my consciouness just a touch, as needed. 
and i'd like to say thanks again to everyone who posted yesterday in regards to my dog. sending her name out into the world felt like a good thing to do, and the sympathy you guys extended means a lot. sorry if i turned yesterday's thread into a pet cemetery!
~sean
but i also think of tea as a teacher or a guide that leads me to ideas and experiences and weird bits of lore and culture that i might not ever come across otherwise. sort of a vegetative spirit familiar who keeps me company or offers healing or alters my consciouness just a touch, as needed. and i'd like to say thanks again to everyone who posted yesterday in regards to my dog. sending her name out into the world felt like a good thing to do, and the sympathy you guys extended means a lot. sorry if i turned yesterday's thread into a pet cemetery!
~sean
Oct 25th, '08, 01:20
Posts: 796
Joined: Sep 3rd, '08, 11:01
Location: Washington, DC
Contact:
Maitre_Tea
I've had passing interest in hobbies over the years, and they've waxed and waned as if by the lunar cycle, but my passion for tea though has been pretty strong ever since I started.
I'm also been getting more and more into tea too. I started with simply enjoying DHP in a oversized yixing teapot, moving on to more diverse types and purchasing smaller yixing teapots better suited for gong fu cha. Now it's at the point that I even dream about tea and teaware sometimes.
I think this is going to be a passion of mine for life
I'm also been getting more and more into tea too. I started with simply enjoying DHP in a oversized yixing teapot, moving on to more diverse types and purchasing smaller yixing teapots better suited for gong fu cha. Now it's at the point that I even dream about tea and teaware sometimes.
I think this is going to be a passion of mine for life
Oct 25th, '08, 01:41
Posts: 553
Joined: Oct 14th, '08, 03:54
Location: Cinnamon King of San Diego, Ca
Contact:
Vulture
This started as a nice beverage to drink at work instead of soda. Once I found this forum it kinda evolved into its own beast... (passion)
I blame you! *points of forumites*
Currently in my cup - Full Throttle Blue Demon #2 (as in second one in this waking period)
I just starting my shift and i haven't slept for almost 27 hours now. Only 7 more to go before I go home
I blame you! *points of forumites*
Currently in my cup - Full Throttle Blue Demon #2 (as in second one in this waking period)
I just starting my shift and i haven't slept for almost 27 hours now. Only 7 more to go before I go home
A fine passion, a passionate insanity, an insane love of tea
I've always had tea, "normal" tea. Then when my mother remarried and he took us to a very wonderful Chinese restaurant, they poured oolong in my cup and taught me how to uce chopsticks. The first sip of Oolong was an epiphany running across my tongue and down my throat. i sat there rather like a dragon, letting the tea warm me from the inside out, sending its tendrils throughout my life.
Breakfast meant coffee - real coffee which had been roasted the day before and ground in an old hand crank then popped into the percolator. Mornings always meant the plop plop of the percolator, the sussuration of the newspaper as Father turned the sheets and the smells of cooking bacon and maple syrup.
Afternoon meant visitors and visitors meant tea served with paper thin biscuits called cookies and impossibly tiny sandwiches of meat paste or often my favorite water cress or cucumber. The tea was a delicate amber gold in the cup and the cup paper thin, reminding me to sit up properly, place my hands neatly in my lap and never, ever devour food, just nibble at it as if doing a great favor to our hostess of the moment.
Dinner meant more tea, this time in my favorite big old brown pot. If it could have had a face it would have looked like a plump cheeked English cook pressing another serving of whatever on me and making certain my napkin stayed in my lap.
Bedtime meant another tea, this one in a bear teapot. There was hardly any tea in it at all, but mostly warmed milk with a whisper of tea and sweet. This and two cookies sent me off to sleep. It is no wonder now that I have such problem sleeping, for there is no one to send me off to sleep with a soothing cup of milky tea and cookies.
Then started the hunger to learn about tea, Camelia Sinesis, since the other drinks, the tisaines, the herbal infusions, were never, ever to be confused with the Empress of all the vegetable world, the tea leaf. I can clearly remember the day I realized all tea was from one plant, Camelia Sinesis, and the vast differences in the leaves and brews came from the soil where it had grown, the elevation, how long the leaves were allowed to weep after being plucked from the plant, rolled and tossed into a basket with its mates.
I read once that there are like 3,000 different teas just from that one plant and what makes them different is what makes them the same, how they were treated.
So I sit here at 1:35 AM, unable to sleep despite the sleeping tablet my doctor prescribed. It's a gentle fog, but not so much that I cannot go brew about two tablespoons of tea and mix them in with warmed milk and honey. I'll put a couple Vanilla wafers on the plate next to the teapot and perhaps after that is finished, i'll sleep and dream of tea and people whose passion is also tea.
Should the sleeping pill and warm milky tea not work, perhaps a teaspoon of rum mixed into the tea, milk and honey. Oolong will push her face into the cup and dare me to finish drinking it as she delicately dips first one paw then the other into the milky wonder, cleaning both of them so well. After all, she is already dressed for Tea, with her pristine white mittens and long white boots. Her snowy bib of white fur seems rather like a froth of lace.
Oolong says we can go to bed now, for she has finished her cup of tea and is ready for the slothful human to lay down so that she can groom the human's hair as she sleeps.
Breakfast meant coffee - real coffee which had been roasted the day before and ground in an old hand crank then popped into the percolator. Mornings always meant the plop plop of the percolator, the sussuration of the newspaper as Father turned the sheets and the smells of cooking bacon and maple syrup.
Afternoon meant visitors and visitors meant tea served with paper thin biscuits called cookies and impossibly tiny sandwiches of meat paste or often my favorite water cress or cucumber. The tea was a delicate amber gold in the cup and the cup paper thin, reminding me to sit up properly, place my hands neatly in my lap and never, ever devour food, just nibble at it as if doing a great favor to our hostess of the moment.
Dinner meant more tea, this time in my favorite big old brown pot. If it could have had a face it would have looked like a plump cheeked English cook pressing another serving of whatever on me and making certain my napkin stayed in my lap.
Bedtime meant another tea, this one in a bear teapot. There was hardly any tea in it at all, but mostly warmed milk with a whisper of tea and sweet. This and two cookies sent me off to sleep. It is no wonder now that I have such problem sleeping, for there is no one to send me off to sleep with a soothing cup of milky tea and cookies.
Then started the hunger to learn about tea, Camelia Sinesis, since the other drinks, the tisaines, the herbal infusions, were never, ever to be confused with the Empress of all the vegetable world, the tea leaf. I can clearly remember the day I realized all tea was from one plant, Camelia Sinesis, and the vast differences in the leaves and brews came from the soil where it had grown, the elevation, how long the leaves were allowed to weep after being plucked from the plant, rolled and tossed into a basket with its mates.
I read once that there are like 3,000 different teas just from that one plant and what makes them different is what makes them the same, how they were treated.
So I sit here at 1:35 AM, unable to sleep despite the sleeping tablet my doctor prescribed. It's a gentle fog, but not so much that I cannot go brew about two tablespoons of tea and mix them in with warmed milk and honey. I'll put a couple Vanilla wafers on the plate next to the teapot and perhaps after that is finished, i'll sleep and dream of tea and people whose passion is also tea.
Should the sleeping pill and warm milky tea not work, perhaps a teaspoon of rum mixed into the tea, milk and honey. Oolong will push her face into the cup and dare me to finish drinking it as she delicately dips first one paw then the other into the milky wonder, cleaning both of them so well. After all, she is already dressed for Tea, with her pristine white mittens and long white boots. Her snowy bib of white fur seems rather like a froth of lace.
Oolong says we can go to bed now, for she has finished her cup of tea and is ready for the slothful human to lay down so that she can groom the human's hair as she sleeps.
Jeanne - I never met a tea pot I didn't like.
Oct 25th, '08, 02:04
Posts: 5151
Joined: Dec 20th, '06, 23:33
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Gainesville, Florida
Adagio Puerh Dante
- "passion, fixation, madness"
"a vegetative spirit"
"I even dream about tea and teaware"
Currently I have a 2008 Lao Ban Zhang Wild Arbor Pu-erh in my cup after a nice long session of Farmer's Choice Bao Zhong. Thanks, Devites, for the BZ: It was great! The Lao Ban Zhang is reputedly made by employees of Mengku Shuangjiang Factory but off the clock, apparently as a side project.
The photo is of Adagio's own shu puerh. Thanks to Omegapd for this generous gift. I found it quite nice, really very coffee like, surprisingly.
Oct 25th, '08, 02:57
Posts: 921
Joined: Feb 6th, '08, 04:57
Location: enjoying a cup of Red Rose down in GA
October 25th. 11 years ago today I married the best lady I had ever met and we're still happy and going strong. 
Because of that, I'm going to celebrate with a new tea when I get home from work in the morning...you Pu heads, be on the look-out for a review in the Pu-erh section in the next day or so.
I still classify my tea fun as "hobby". Until it moves ahead of my other hobbies to become a passion, I'll just enjoy it for what it is.
Lipton Loose tea this morning at work. Great work tea...
EW
Because of that, I'm going to celebrate with a new tea when I get home from work in the morning...you Pu heads, be on the look-out for a review in the Pu-erh section in the next day or so. I still classify my tea fun as "hobby". Until it moves ahead of my other hobbies to become a passion, I'll just enjoy it for what it is.
Lipton Loose tea this morning at work. Great work tea...
EW
Re: Adagio Puerh Dante
You post so many beautiful photos - I just stick (sort of) to whatever topicSalsero wrote:It's already getting freaky and the day has hardly begun! Let's just say I have some interest in tea and leave it at that. I'm not sure I am strong enough for more thorough introspection than that.
- "passion, fixation, madness"
"a vegetative spirit"
"I even dream about tea and teaware"
Currently I have a 2008 Lao Ban Zhang Wild Arbor Pu-erh in my cup after a nice long session of Farmer's Choice Bao Zhong. Thanks, Devites, for the BZ: It was great! The Lao Ban Zhang is reputedly made by employees of Mengku Shuangjiang Factory but off the clock, apparently as a side project.
The photo is of Adagio's own shu puerh. Thanks to Omegapd for this generous gift. I found it quite nice, really very coffee like, surprisingly.
- but today's is stunning. I could live in those colors.
I guess I'll tackle Assam his morning - I've got a lot of running around to do.
Oct 25th, '08, 08:21
Posts: 219
Joined: Sep 13th, '08, 04:26
Location: Florida, USA
Contact:
caligatia
Happy anniversary, omegapd!
I chose "hobby". I tend to get very passionate about something until it becomes a normal part of my life, and then I find something else to obsess about. Right now I'm all about tea. In a couple of months I'll probably settle down -- still drinking tea, of course, but not reading books about it like I am now.
Of course, I could be wrong and I'll stay obsessed. Who knows? Some of my passions, like knitting, have remained important. Some, like fountain pens, have fallen by the wayside. (I still like and use the pens, I just don't hang out on an FP forum or anything anymore and I've stopped collecting.)
Right now I'm drinking some golden monkey, first infusion. I still have more teas from Sarah to try, but I've been sick the last few days and so crave familiarity.
I chose "hobby". I tend to get very passionate about something until it becomes a normal part of my life, and then I find something else to obsess about. Right now I'm all about tea. In a couple of months I'll probably settle down -- still drinking tea, of course, but not reading books about it like I am now.
Of course, I could be wrong and I'll stay obsessed. Who knows? Some of my passions, like knitting, have remained important. Some, like fountain pens, have fallen by the wayside. (I still like and use the pens, I just don't hang out on an FP forum or anything anymore and I've stopped collecting.)
Right now I'm drinking some golden monkey, first infusion. I still have more teas from Sarah to try, but I've been sick the last few days and so crave familiarity.