4/4/2014 When you started to drink tea seriously, was it to

[Chip]

So, Welcome to TeaDay! We want each of you to share what is in your cup today ... and do it often.

It is amazing how many different teas are being consumed here on TeaChat. Please take the time and share what is in your cup today with us here or in the individual tea forums.

The TeaPoll today is a revisited topic as we have many new members since this question was a subject of TeaDay. It is always fun to learn more about our fellow TeaDrinkers!

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic ... many of us came to tea as a form of substituting something we perceived as "bad," and replacing it with something much better, TEA. I know I fall into at least one of these categories, how about you???

I am looking forward to seeing everyone on TeaDay. Cheers.

[DavidM]

I didn't find tea in an effort to eliminate or reduce anything else. I remember having some really good teas as a child and wanted to explore the world of tea. Tea certainly has reduced my consumption of soda though, and I am happy with that side-effect.

[William]

I voted "No, I just discovered TEA, period" .. or perhaps, is the tea that has found me.

Have a nice day my (tea) friends.

[CWarren]

EDITED

[qianli]

I have been drinking both tea and coffee, until I found that I was taking too much caffeine and then dropped coffee. Not surprisingly, browsing TeaChat is the "gateway" to this change...

[entropyembrace]

I've been drinking tea for as long as I can remember I did suddenly jump to much better teas when I was finishing high school, I had accidentally picked up a tin of loose leaf english breakfast at the grocery store and once I had western loose leaf brewing figured out I realized that even with what was supposedly the same tea in loose leaf form tasted better than its bagged counterpart. Some searching later and I found a tea shop and a whole new world opened up....

[debunix]

I used to drink more plain water. No substitutions, I just like tea.

[rewind]

I just LOVE tea.

Enjoying the 2008 bamboo Yiwu puerh from Norbu, a longtime favorite. Mellow, earthy, anise and herbs, caramel, sweet, delicious. A tea with an expansive personality, and gently warming to boot. Plus I get to enjoy it from my always interesting Deishi teacup, enjoying the play of light through the tea and the crackles of the glaze staining deeper and pondering use, age, and time, and contrast the thick white glaze with the smooth deep bronze notes of the black magda glaze on my Petr Novak kyusu.



Why would I not prefer this to plain water?

[Cinnamon]

I started drinking tea in high school, mainly because my parents didn't allow my brothers and me to drink coffee. A cup of tea was my way of feeling a little more grown up, I guess.

Over time, I discovered that I preferred the taste of tea to coffee, so started searching out better teas.

[gongfutea]

I started seriously drink tea when I moved to China . It was a way for me to meet people and practice mandarin . It is a really fast and fun way to learn a lot and meet a lot of new friends .

[chrl42]

Loving tea by nature

My family members are coffee-holics. My uncle is a buddhist monk, visiting him was the only chance to have Korean green teas I guess, since I was a child, I felt I was more of a tea person than coffee.

Tea has followed me since then, when I was in America, Europe, or the army...now I am in China....the mecca of tea

[Devoted135]

Why did I start getting into tea seriously? Honestly, I sort of fell into it, starting with better and better black teas and branching out from there. I have stopped drinking other less healthy drinks as a side effect, but that was never the point.

My dad is a coffee drinker and my mom never drank it, always preferring tea. At some point early on, I decided that I liked tea and that I would never drink coffee. To this day, I have never drunk coffee, and my tea preference officially reached "obsession" levels a few years ago.

(I have a tendency to continue doing things just because it has "become a thing." For example, I was 13 in 1997 when Titanic was in the theaters. As unlikely as it is I never saw it, and now I never will, "just because." )

[Misou]

A series of sophisticated older friends introduced me to tea when I was a teenager. After those first few experiences with really goid loise leaf tea I could never bring myself to drink bagged tea.
Growing up in a small mountain town good ea was hard to come by so I developed a coffee habit.
As an adult I would return to tea from time to time but it has been only recently that I have had the means to really explore tea in all its aspects.

Its been interesting too. At one time I thought I must be a black tea drinker but being able to buy very good tea now, I have discovered I really love greens and oolong much better.

I still have a giant box of ctc though. I feed it to my brother, Englush style with milk and sugar. He refuses anything else.

[toasterburn]

I spent a year drinking bitter grocery store teas as I tried to kick my soda addiction. When I found loose leaf teas, I realized tea could be pleasant to drink and now I drink it for both reasons. Incidentally, I haven't had a soda for about a year now.

[Evan Draper]

I was trying to increase my caffeine consumption.

[TimsMom]

I start the morning out with black tea; and will start with pu erh when it comes. After several infusions, I go to oolong; then green. This method seems to enable me to sleep better.