Tea Thoughts

I was just over at Kelli's House (on-line) when she was apparently over here visiting! She commented on the Tea Thoughts posting asking about Tea Catalogs. There are actually quite a few companies that have mail-order catalogs. Even more have wonderful web sites with on-line ordering.
We actually buy our everyday tea on-line in bulk. We drink probably one or two pots of Ashby's Earl Grey tea a day. We've found it's a lot cheaper to buy a few big bags at a time. This is our day in and day out tea. We buy the regular tea and decaffeinate it ourselves because it is a lot cheaper that way. We've found this to be our favorite Earl Grey after trying a multitude of brands. We buy it in the loose-leaf form, not in teabags to get the best quality. The flavor is worth the few extra minutes it takes to brew a proper pot versus a teabag tossed in a mug and nuked for a minute.
Tea bags are ok in a pinch and I know they are convenient, but really, it's like a home cooked meal versus McDonald's. Some things are just worth the effort.
Tea is a passion of mine. I have an entire kitchen cupboard devoted to tea and tea things. My home is decorated with tea pots and tea cups as well as all sorts of tea accoutrements. I love to have people over for tea and to speak on tea as well.
In fact, I enjoy sharing about the history and etiquette of tea to churches and at bed and breakfasts as well as tea rooms. I had a side business B.P. (Before Pumpkin) where I would dress in vintage clothing and give presentations on tea. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. Maybe I'll do it again someday.
I'll look around for a few links to tea catalogs tomorrow and see about posting them. I need to sign off for now. Maybe I'll post more on tea itself over the next few days if people are interested. Thanks for visiting!

By the way, here's a link to the Harney and Sons Catalog. You can request a catalog to be mailed to you.

Picture: "Express Yourself", courtesy of Allposters.com (Wow! I can't believe it actually posted!)