Tea for Two

On my first date with The Boy I ordered tea.

I love tea. I loved it when I read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books (it’s all Pa will drink in cold weather and now that I’m thinking about it I think he might have been my first crush? awkward live-blogged realization ). I loved it when I discovered all kinds of weird teas shoved haphazard in our old pantry because Mom was Coffee or Die, and Dad was a teacher, and teachers get weird gifts all the time. Like tea samplers. And the Eternal Christmas Tri-part Popcorn Bucket of Doom.

Drinking tea made me feel fancy. Adult. Different. Like I could any second blink and be 150 years ago with cooler clothes and speech patterns and EVERYTHING. (minus, you know, plumbing indoors, and a bunch of political and social right, but WHATEVZ).

Also, I was allowed to drink it. So.

On my first date with The Boy I drank tea (Earl Gray), and it was discovered that The Boy DID NOT LIKE TEA. He drank coffee on the daily and had no interest at all in the wonderful world of spice and allure waiting for him in a teacup. NONE AT ALL.

And I quote: ‘It’s like hot juice. No thank you.’

This was the closest thing to a red flag I encountered in our budding relationship.

To change his mind, I laughed at him. It was super effective! HA no. No it wasn’t. Wasn’t at all. I tried to explain, to reason with him. Nothing. So we broke up.

HA no. Boy y’all are gullible. We agreed to disagree, and I waited. Bided my time. (Bid my time? Bit? Bidden? Bought? BODE my time? help) and kept ordering tea. (and sometimes mochas.) Eventually I got him some Earl Grey of his own, and he admitted (grudgingly) that it was okay.

OKAY. psh. Had he so blasphemed my beloved Irish Breakfast…well. Let’s be thankful he didn’t.

This summer, the Summer of All the Problems, Nate had to make some dietary changes that included eliminating caffeine, and also, we got sick A LOT. And while caffeine-free coffee just isn’t even worth thinking about, caffeine-free tea is a different story.

Time, consider yourself boden.

BOOM.

allll da flavors

ALL of these (except for a not-pictured classy ziploc full of Throat Coat, which I brought back from the good ol’ USA in January) we got through the wonder of iHerb, my current favorite non-blog place on the Webz. Imported goods in Korea are a wee bit expensive, and they do make Korean tea, but most of it is grain based? It’s like hot barley water. “So watery…and yet there’s a smack of barley to it.”

(I just chortled for a full minute)

I wondered over to iHerb to check out what they had and ended up with a cart full of teas. And some organic rolled oats (Korea doesn’t do oats). And some apple cider vinegar. And peppermint extract (winter baking is coming). They do foodstuffs and cosmetics and a whole lot of ‘health supplements’ that I do not understand and consequently, fear.

(annnnd for first time orderers, use this code: RSG968 You’ll get a discount, and I’ll get rewards when I reorder!)

After waiting for the package to clear customs and getting lots of texts from the Korean post office, Nate came home with a backpack of wonder. His current favorites are peppermint and lemon ginger, with just a touch of honey. We’ll ease into the chai and ‘spice’ territories but if he hates those…more for me. He’s officially converted, you guys. Bless the Lord.