This afternoon, after taking care of some online payday stuff (lookit! I had money for about ten minutes! and then it was gone...), I bought a book on Kindle, made myself a big mug of tea, buttered some toast, and let iTunes make me a playlist from "Shankill Butchers." It's been a wonderful afternoon shading into a peaceful night.
I've started drinking a lot more hot tea lately. I don't know if it's a winter thing, an I-need-a-break-from-soda thing, or what, but it seems good more often lately, so I reach for it as an alternative frequently. I am not a cream-and-sugar girl, and I grew up drinking Earl Grey cold and black, so I tend to favor it hot and straight, too. Irish Breakfast Blend is good, too, and of course, there is always green...
There is something soothing about the ritual of tea. I don't do the full-on formal pot and loose leaf routine very often, but when I do get out one of the pots I got in England or one of the ones I brought home from Japan, it makes the mundane special. I can remember where I was when I bought it, and especially with some of the Japanese ones, the festival or pottery town related to it. I have an electric kettle here at home that heats the water quickly, so making tea at home is quick and fairly mess-free.
School is another matter. I used to have to fiddle with an electric kettle there, too, and worry over someone bumping it or keeping a teapot hot or whathaveyou, but then I found a wonderful little thing from ThinkGeek called the Ingenuitea that lets you heat water in the microwave, add loose or bagged tea, brew the tea in it, place the tea over a mug, and dispense the tea through a filter in the bottom to keep whatever tea leaves are left from going into your cup. I love it. If I fill it completely with water, it makes up my largest stainless travel mug full of tea, enough to last me all morning.
I have a million mugs, too, and it's nice to rotate through them for something other than cereal. I've forgotten I have some of them. I grabbed one at random today and laughed. It was my "Naughty Shakespeare" mug, an accidental purchase from the last time I went to the Frazier Museum in Louisville. They had several Shakespeare Quote Mugs, and I thought I got one that was just regular quotes, but when I got it home, everything on it was related to sex in Shakespeare. I shoved it in the cabinet and didn't really think about it anymore. This afternoon, then, I drank my Earl Grey out of the mug with "shake a man's back," "pick the lock," "assault between the sheets," "charged chamber," "country matters," and "buried with her face upwards" on it (among others). Needless to say, this one won't be joining my Verb mug at school....
I think what I like best about tea is the fact that it appeals to so many different senses at once. The mugs are always warm and heavy in my hands, solid and grounding, centering my attention on what I'm doing. The beverage is not an afterthought. If I'm drinking from one of my Japanese teacups, they need to be lifted with the whole hand, and again, all my senses are engaged. The glazes and textures are meant to be appreciated as the fingers interact. I love the smells of the different blends. Earl Grey is so spicy; good Shizuoka green has a tang to it that reminds me of iron, something that you would not think appealing but that I adore. Then there is the first taste as it rolls across the tongue. I am impatient, and I almost always burn my mouth, but as the subtle flavors expand and fill the palate, that first sip is always the best.
When I go to the UK next year, I am hoping to find something nice by way of tea stuff to bring back to my personal ritual. I don't really know what I'll be looking for since I don't really need more teapots (I am NOT going to collect them), but something to add to the enjoyment might be nice. Until then, having a quiet mug or chawan to settle my poor bruised soul seems to be exactly what it was designed for.
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