If you've been a long time reader, you might remember that I've not always been a lover of tea. It has taken me a couple years to warm up to drinking what is basically herb-infused water. For the longest time, I always took my tea with sugar, too. I desperately wanted to like tea and sometimes sugar really helped me get it down in polite company.
A friend of mine, Hikari, inspired me to become a ginger ninja by cutting up some of the root and steeping it in water. That tea was sort of a turning point in my tea drinking life, and helped me branch out of my regular store-bought tea funk.
I continued to buy tea, but would buy nice Clipper tea from the health shops. I loved the idea of their interesting flavors, like their Cloud Nine tea which is made of an organic elderflower, lemongrass & apple infusion as well as Clipper's Orange and Coconut infusion. Yum. As it turns out, I rather like light teas without sugar at all.
One day in Cork city, I happened upon a little shop named "Little Buddha" who sells an amazing array of loose leaf teas and coffee. You walk in and the walls are lined with glass apothecary jars full different coffees. There is a center display with more than 80 different teas ranging from Rooibos, to Pu Ehr, to Green, to White, to Black, and beyond. You make your selection by lifting a lid and smelling inside the lid, where the fragrance has been trapped. Long story short, I well and truly discovered my love of loose leaf teas, and which flavors are my favorite. I've been back several times and now have a wide selection of my personal favorites (plus some new ones to try) in jars and tins in what I now call my "Tea Cupboard". I very much enjoy the smell of the cupboard when I open it, and I enjoy standing in front of it deciding which tea would suit my mood best today.
This is a favorite corner of my home, and I'm happy to be able to share it with you!
