How to get the most from your tea drinking experience?
Take this time to brood (don’t brood too long though because this will not be healthy anymore)! How’s that for the melancholic-poetic bone in you? Sit by the window. Drink in some poetry. Read the classics. Reflect. We all need this to get in touch with the finer things that make us human.
Now let’s get started.
First, get a tea press. Tea bags are okay in the fast lane… but let’s do things differently for once. I suggest that you get yourself a small Bodum or Pyrex black tea press. 
Get the larger one if you plan on brewing a lot of tea in one go. Starbucks used to have quaint tea presses with design, but now it only has the medium sized one.
Second, get some Darjeeling tea leaves. Try Stash. You can check Tea Spa for stock. Follow the directions on the packet for the brewing and make sure that you don’t underbrew or overbrew. Stick to the ideal duration for best taste. Now for the sugar, try cubes. If none is on stock, get crystals. If none is available, only then should you consider honey. Since this is dark tea—which to me is the champagne of teas—don’t forget the milk! Fresh milk is best.
Third. Find proper tea cups and saucers. That is very much part of the experience. Drop the sugar cubes into the cup first then pour the tea. Last is the milk. Leave it to settle first. After a short while, dip the tea unstirred. Naturally, the tea gets progressively sweeter as you drink. It’s like your reward is at the end of the rainbow! Or you get to reflect that your destiny gets brighter and brighter like the noonday sun! Of course in your succeeding cups, you can stir your tea.
4th. Sipping tea is perfect among friends. If coffee is taken quickly, sipping tea among friends takes 3 hours! The hours pass happily.
Here are some alternatives to Darjeeling. Try Starbucks’ Extra Hot Green Tea Latte or Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf’s Chai Latte. Who would have thought that green tea can be taken with milk? Perhaps I was oblivious because of my affinity to how Asian teas are taken. In Japan, tea is serious business!
–The Fool
0 Responses to “Sipping Tea, Sipping Life (Part 2)”