I pushed the door of the shop open, and a little bell announced my arrival. I had expected to see shelves of tea, not what looked like a little coffeehouse set-up. I am sure I’ve never looked more confused. See, I’ve never actually been to a tea store in my life. My experience with tea has been built upon Bigelow sample boxes and a mug of chamomile before bed. Lately, I’ve been “culturing myself” with bags of Tazo tea from the cafeteria. After all, using the transitive property of capitalism: Tazo tea is sold at Starbucks, Starbucks is expensive, expensive items are of higher quality.
Right.
But I can only consume so many Passion teas (“a tantalizing blend of hibiscus”) before getting sick of it, and the other Tazo teas have come to taste bland and unimaginative. After all, taking an English Breakfast, changing the name, and putting the bag in bold red packaging doesn’t mean that the tea is something original and special.
It was time to stop taking whatever tea was handed me and become proactive in my tea search. A friend recommended a little tea shop in Bethesda and today, driven by a cold and an exhausted tea stock, I decided to finally start doing this tea thing right. So, after entering the tea shop and wandering around aimlessly (not to mention visibly lost) for a few minutes, an employee finally stepped in to put an end to this and asked what I was looking for.
“Tea.”
“Alright, we have that, you can get it right here,” she said, gesturing to the counter.
Not knowing how a tea shop (or maybe just this tea shop) works, I started to clarify “no, no. I’m looking for tea leaves. Like, to brew at home.” (Any more babbling and I would have asked “where do you keep those?”)
“Well, you get those here, too” she explained, again indicating the counter and more than implying that I should take a step over there.
Standing opposite me at the counter, she passed over a long menu of teas. I had known that there must be teas outside of Earl Grey and Chamomile, but I had never anticipated there being so many different kinds. There were teas with caffeine and teas without; teas with blueberries, lavender, peaches, and flower petals; teas that came in little containers and teas that came by the crateful. White teas, black teas, green teas, herbal teas, and something called “Oolong” I had never even heard of! The only thing they had in common was that none of them came in tea bags.
But then there were the tea pots! They came in all different price ranges, styles, and colors. Some had mesh infusers inside and I decided that, if I was going to start brewing my own tea, I would need to get one of those. After staring at the menu for a good ten minutes, I decided on three new teas. Of course, I still haven’t ventured incredibly far from my Earl Grey (this time with Rose petals) and Chamomile (infused with lavender) roots, but the white peach blossom tea was something new.
As soon as I got home I boiled water for the white tea and eagerly unpacked my dark green tea pot with a floral cutout on the side. I am here to tell you, dear readers, that my new teas are absolutely wonderful. I cannot believe I stuck to such a narrow selection of bagged teas for so long, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be going back. Even when I’m living in my future refrigerator box, I hope to find some way to get my hands on wonderful tea.
Every singer should have wonderful tea.
