Spoiled for Tea

For our Valentine's gift to ourselves, we spent last weekend at a locally lesbian owned day spa getting hour-long massages.  While we were waiting to be called upstairs into the inner sanctum of Yanni music and warm towels, we served ourselves up a cup of hot tea.  Teri turned to me and made a pinchy face after the first sip of ordinary tea bag tea and whispered "You've spoiled me for regular tea and it only took a few weeks!" True.  Who knew how quickly we'd become absolutely addicted to fresh, loose leaf teas?

In the matter of just a few weeks, we went from skeptical doubters, clinging to our grocery store bought boxes of chamomile and mint tucked in little paper pouches, to full-on adventurers--mixing pots of nettle root, dandelion leaf and spearmint.  Teri has collected a half dozen different types of tea infusers--including one in the shape of a tiny metal robot.  We've made it by the cup and by the pot and, I confess, I've even thrown a handful of herbs into a big beer mug and poured the hot water over; slurping in the floaty leaves as I drink.  Ah, what a slippery slope to strawberry leaf and dried hibiscus!

It's good stuff--the taste far surpasses anything we've had this side of freshly harvested from our garden, but I don't think that is the all of it.  We've been enjoying the experimentation, the ceremony, the opening up of jars and taking big deep smells of leafy, rooty, flowery goodness.  We've started to do a little research, trying to educate ourselves on what herbs are supposed to be good for what, but to be honest, that part hasn't really turned us on as much as just the flavors and feel-good act of sipping freshly brewed herbal tea.  We have become addicts and snobs all in a matter of a month!