Wednesday TeaDay 11/19/08 TeaStart influence?

[Tea na]

HI,

I'm the only one who voted "urgent need to stay awake" (so far)...

I was on vacation in France and had jet lag. I was really tired, and decided to try some English Breakfast Tea with my breakfast and fell in love. I guess I had only had Lipton iced tea up to that point, so naturally I had no idea how wonderful tea could be.

No tea yet, waiting on water.....

Have a great day!
Tea Na

[olivierco]

Twenty five years ago, only Twinning leaf tea was available. It was the best tea I could drink then. When I moved to Paris, I had the opportunity to buy better leaf tea (Mariage frères) which officially started my tea drinking. Now with internet all is easier.

Yunnan Noir (from Adagio) in a few minutes.

[Maitre_Tea]

I grew up drinking tea but I never really paid much attention to it, and most of the teas I ended up drinking were either gunpowder oolong or jasmine oolong. It wasn't until I went to China when my friend introduced me to TGY. I wasn't a fan of TGY (still am not really) so I was kind of put off at first; however, we decided to take a trip to a local tea emporium, where the vendor introduced me to wuyi and what not. The rest is history

[caligatia]

I've always liked iced tea, and grew up drinking it. I usually get unsweetened, but every so often I like a glass of good southern sweet tea... Anyway. My family started going to a nearby tearoom about once a month, and they sold the teas they brew for meals. I got hooked on their fruit-infused teas for iced tea and still drink that instead of soda.

As far as hot tea goes, I've always liked that too, but what really got me started a few months ago was trying to wean myself off $3 lattes. I thought tea would be the best option, since coffee on an empty stomach makes me sick. I'd been ordering a few teas through Upton for years, but was never really passionate about tea until I discovered TeaChat and realized there's a whole world of teas out there.

By the way, I found Adagio when looking for strawberry black tea. The tearoom was out of stock and I needed some, and Upton doesn't sell a strawberry tea. Google gave me Adagio. Thank you, Google.

In my cup right now is Adagio's Irish Breakfast.

[gingkoseto]

HI,

I'm the only one who voted "urgent need to stay awake" (so far)...


Tea Na

Heehee, that's how I started to drink coffee. I grew up without coffee. My family dislike all expensive coffee gifts we received. Then we "discovered" coffee mate, found it made coffee slightly better, but still disliked coffee. Then on a trip that I drove alone for a few thousand miles, I felt I really needed coffee to keep me awake. And just one cup, worked perfectly for me (probably because I hadn't been exposed to much coffee before). Just on that trip, I learned milk or cream for coffee is so much better than coffee mate (shame on me! ). Then I started to have instant coffee daily (again shame on me...) Then a roommate introduced me to stove top little machine (machinetta?) coffee maker, which I use till now. I don't (yet ) order coffee directly from Columbia, but I am doing so much better now than instant coffee

[auggy]

Sal, love that cup. I want to touch it.

Life event for me. I was introduced to tea not in iced format when I stayed with a family in England. I liked it so it became something I'd keep on hand (in bags). After living in Japan, I got very attached to sencha but hated it after coming home (was brewing it with boiling water). So I pretty much gave up on tea for a bit. If I couldn't have my oh-so-loved sencha, I didn't want any tea. Then I found (on the back of a Stash box, I think) the whole thing about brewing sencha at a lower temp. I tried it and it was SO good. Looking back, it probably wasn't because it was just bagged tea but I hadn't had anything resembling decent green tea in 6 years so it made me happy. Anyway, I got online to see where I could buy more good teas and how to brew them, stumbled upon Adagio and the rest is history!

Thai tea this morning. I made it too strong and drank it too fast. My hands are a little shaky with caffeine.

[gingkoseto]

This is an interesting vote question. I grew up with tea and drinking tea is a daily life thing. But the more I think of it, I feel I could choose "all of the above", since all the factors nurtured my interests in tea (oh, not including the health factor )

Something not included in the choices, that I can think of, are the books. I like reading, and some books definitely made me more and more fascinated about tea. And now with internet, some internet articles are absolutely of book quality. I enjoy reading about tea when drinking tea

[Beanbean]

My mother started giving me tea, English style, when I was a toddler. It was cheaper than hot chocolate, it had a lot less sugar, and because she put a lot of milk in it, it had a lot less caffeine than hot chocolate. I've been drinking tea for more than 40 years.

I started my son on "milk tea" when he was about two years old, too.

[Chip]

I have always dabbled in tea, but in 1999 (yeah, I know the year , that was the year I became a citizen of the Republic of Tea. , later I withdrew) I made some "changes" partially due to life event, partially due to tea and health marketing. I never looked back having tea at least once every probably all but a handful of days since.

Began the TeaDay with Organic Sencha from Kagoshima. Sweetie enjoyed it as much as I did while Wulong was curious as ever. Pyrit, Lil Bit made an appearance.

Don't know what tea will be next ...

[Smari]

Drank tea before but nothing great until my friend introduced me to fine teas.

Craving caramel rooibos right now... shall be having that

[Dr. Eel]

iced tea and sweet tea have always been a part of my family, so i naturally drank it.

I became really interested in Asia when i was about 13, and it was about that time that my uncle showed me loose leaf teas.

[daughteroftheKing]

Grew up drinking tea, mostly bags or, gasp, Lipton instant ice tea <hangs head in shame>. A college friend taught me to brew iced tea, but still used Lipton bags. Then a roommate from Japan showed me better quality teas and the idea of loose-leaf. Tea was always my standby, kept a pot in a drawer at the office along with some old Twinings (ick) and a teaball, but mostly drank bagged Constant Comment (still a fav taste).

BUT THEN, about 3 years ago was on vacation in Hawaii and couldn't get enough Mango Tea at one restaurant. Great tea...it was like re-discovering an old friend all over again. Once home, I searched for it online, found Adagio (and a few other) sites, and have been hooked on quality loose-leaf ever since.

This morning enjoyed Golden Spring again: I like this tea, even though I didn't use quite enough leaf this morning.
Now at work re-trying the new Emerald Needles - something mentholated about it that isn't for me. (hmm...the needles do look suspiciously like my blue spruce tree).

[Janine]

I grew up drinking afternoon tea English style after school at a neighbor's. I have always searched out good teas of all kinds since, including when I travel. I'd had good Chinese-style tea, and another time my brother brought me back some good green oolong from a trip to Taiwan.

But a few years ago I was meeting a friend at Imperial Tea Court in San Francisco in the Ferry Building. I had not heard of it. She was taking the ferry to meet me, had to go to a job interview first. She kept getting delayed, by hours. So, she kept phoning the store and asked to speak to me. (I didn't have my cell phone.) It became a great drama with the whole staff participating. After those hours in the delightful spot, I'd discovered several new teas and was completely hooked.

[Victoria]

Thanks Trey. Sorry to be an enabler!!

I grew up with it and drank it on and off most of my life, but only blacks.
Mostly Ceylon and some flavored Blacks.

It all turned around for me when I discovered OOLONG.

At home this morning I had another generic Darjeeling - better than yesterday but still generic. I might just have to toss all this stuff rather than painfully subjecting myself to it daily.

Now at work ... not sure what's next.

[bearsbearsbears]

sushi...