I love tea.

It all started with the peppermint tea my mom gave me as a baby to calm my tummy.

I stuck mainly to herbal tea until I was through college.

I made it through college without coffee!

That’s because caffeine was a thing that we just didn’t do.  It was one of those things.

Then I discovered Earl Grey,  English Breakfast, Jasmine green tea.

And I discovered mochas.  The one shot of espresso really cut through the sweetness of the hot chocolate.

But tea is still my favorite.

Yeah, yeah.  They say.  It’s just a bunch of grass.  Filtered water.  It has no substance.

But the variety of flavors, the combinations, the same kind of tea from different tea purveyors.

The subtle or not-so-subtle differences between English Breakfast Tea, Irish Breakfast Tea, Scottish Breakfast Tea.  Hint, Scottish Breakfast Tea is stronger.

A sarsaparilla tea that tastes almost exactly like root beer.

A combination of herbs (peppermint, basil, spearmint, licorice) that makes the perfect relaxing cup of tea.  It’s fresh.  It’s flavorful.  It doesn’t have chamomile.  (I’m allergic)

And then there’s the making of the tea.

Choosing a tea based on what I’m feeling or needing.  Herbal for evening time.  Tea with valerian root to help me relax and sleep.  English Breakfast in the morning.  Or my favorite, Yorkshire Gold.  Or Harney & Son’s Paris, my other favorite.

Then I set the water to boil.  Using the electric kettle or the kettle on the stove.

Choosing a mug is also important.  Travel mug or stay at home mug?  How big of a mug?  Am I going for an artistic-looking one?  One of the souvenir mugs?  Mammoth Caves or Waffle House?  I’m not usually in the mood for the one that says “I Heart Grandpa”.

Two of my favorite mugs are currently in storage.  I painted them myself at one of those fun pottery painting places.  One of them is my morning mug.  It’s painted with sunshine.  The other is my nighttime mug.  It has a moon and stars.  I miss those mugs for so many reasons.

The tea bag goes into the mug.  Boiling water is poured over it.  The hot water releases the aroma.  And I take a deep breath.  And my shoulders relax.

Sometimes, I’ll pull out my teapot and make a whole pot of some variety of tea that I have as loose leaf, not in tea bags.

Either way, I usually savor several cups of tea.  My morning feels so much more complete when I have a cup of tea.  My day feels so much more complete when I have at least one cup of tea.

And it’s not the caffeine in the tea that I have to have.

It’s the aroma, the warmth of the mug that I hold in my hands, the savoring of time and tea.

These past few years, I have tried to build more time into my mornings so that I can sit and sip and savor.  I can start the day with a calming cup of tea.  I can read while I sip my tea.  I can plan my day.  I don’t have to feel rushed.

I like to have tea at work. It gives me a moment of savoring, of relaxing, pausing to enjoy the moment, taking a few seconds to just be present with my tea and not think about work.

Going to the coffee shop with a friend for a coffee date, I usually have tea.  There, I can savor the tea, the aroma, the company, the smell of coffee throughout the cafe, the latte art in her coffee.

And the warmth of the cup warms my hands.  The warmth of the love between friends warms my heart.  We laugh.  We share.  We cry.  We snark.  We imagine.

Tea permeates my life.  Tea grounds me and relaxes me and energizes me.

Tea ties everything together for me.

Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.

-Chaim Potok

There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life.

-Lin Yutang

You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.

-C. S. Lewis