The Tea War

[Ladytiger]

This is a little bit of a vent but it's about tea.
Ever since I have started drinking tea my mother and I have always butted heads about where it was placed. First it was about the tea being in a cabinet and I was talking about relocating some food stuffs that we haven't used for some time into the pantry to make room for my growing tea stash. She refused and we settled with them being on an open shelf. Well today my mother decided that she didn't want it there anymore, since I've added the samples of Oolong that Victoria sent me, and kicked them off the shelf onto the some what wet counter. So at the moment my teas are sitting on my bed looking up at me for help. Some suggested a plastic tote to put under my bed but easy assablity is a must. Any suggestions?

[Mary R]

Not knowing your room's set-up, it's sort of hard to offer any ideas. You can always clear out drawer space or relocate books on a shelf or something...

Then there's always gizmos like this available.

[Ladytiger]

That's an idea. Right now my tea is in a sock drawer turned tea drawer, but that might be a good investment. Depending on how wide it is I might be able to put my ingneuity or my teadrop on there.

[Carnelian]

I had a similar situation, my tea ended up on our oversized spice rack and in the spices cabinet (we use alot of spices in my house) until we moved and mom let me have a tiny underutilized cabinet all for my tea.

[witches brew]

A basket with a handle might be good. That way you can carry it to the kitchen, select your tea and infuse it, and then carry everything back to your room.

I'm so sorry your mother is not supportive. Tea is such a wholesome interest...

[ABx]

Maybe you could make some kind of compromise? I'm thinking maybe negotiate to have a select few that you use the most in the kitchen (or a certain amount of space that you can use), and put the others elsewhere. Maybe put the samples in a jar or box or something. That way you have some within reach for when you're brewing on the run, and then when you want to sit down with something nice you can go get the other stuff.

Just make sure that nothing out in the open is in glass jars, or else light will ruin the tea.

Lastly you might also look at getting some nice stackable tins for anything in bags, just to use the space you have more efficiently.

[ABx]

I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but if you could negotiate a certain amount of space then you could keep sample size tins of all/most of your teas, and just refill them as needed. I really like these for sample tins:
http://www.enjoyingtea.com/ciinsetinca.html

This would have the added benefit of keeping your teas fresh a bit longer because you wouldn't be opening the full tin/bag as much.

[scruffmcgruff]

This would have the added benefit of keeping your teas fresh a bit longer because you wouldn't be opening the full tin/bag as much.

This is a good thing-- scientists do this pretty much as a rule with their reagents (it's called aliquoting in those circles).

[Ladytiger]

Do you know how much tea can it hold?

[Mary R]

Based on the dimensions, I'd say they'd hold a similar amount to the Adagio sample tins.

[ABx]

Based on the dimensions, I'd say they'd hold a similar amount to the Adagio sample tins.

They hold a bit more. Exactly how much really depends on the tea, but "a little more than the Adagio sample tins" is fair to say.

[Wesli]

What a rude and selfish mother!

[Wosret]

My husband makes fun of me for taking up so much space in the cupboard with my tea. It's the same with the closet and my clothes ... hmm!