Tea Obsessed.

Tea with Liz and Doofy

Here’s something that tends to shock people when they learn it:

I don’t drink coffee. Never have.

I love love love the smell of coffee. I despise despise despise the taste of coffee.

All of THIS? *makes swooping hand motions around my effervescent self* Totally natural.

That’s right: I’m a morning person who can jump up from my bed at o’dark thirty and sing happy songs before my feet actually hit the floor, with no external aids.

My husband, who has been drinking coffee (no cream, no sugar) in copious amounts since his days as a Machinists’ Mate in the Navy, has tried to get me to start drinking it by suggesting that I add tons of cream and sugar to make it taste better.

That makes no sense to me at all. I’m good, thanks.

I’ve dallied with tea over the years, but just, you know, the kind that comes in little paper envelopes from the grocery store. Boring. It never occurred to me to try tea from an actual tea shop because, well, I had never tried tea from an actual tea shop. Vicious circle.

Then, on my most recent visit to New Jersey, Liz and I went to the mall. “I want to stop in at Teavana,” she said. I followed her in, and, well, it was all over after that. We ended up trying the Raspberry Limeade blend and, with the assistance of a hilarious and friendly sales woman, suddenly I was at the register with thirty dollars’ worth of tea that I never would have imagined I’d end up with in a million years. (That is the sign of an amazing salesperson.)

Also, this post is not sponsored. In fact, for as much as I’ve been talking about Teavana both on social media and on the phone in the last two weeks, they really should be paying me.

Anyway.

Back at Liz’s house later that day, we enjoyed a rainy, movie-watching, tea-drinking afternoon (see picture at the top of this post). We were all, “OMG THIS TEA IS DELICIOUS, ISN’T IT?” We were hooked.

I didn’t buy an infuser in New Jersey because I thought I had one at home. In retrospect I have no idea why I would have thought that, because I didn’t. Desperate to drink that tea the day after returning home but not wanting to leave the house just to buy a tea infuser, I complained on Facebook for a while and then sought out alternatives to tea infusers on the good ole’ internet. I was overjoyed when I found directions for making my own infuser out of aluminum foil.

tin foil tea infuser

I didn’t actually follow the specific instructions in the post except for the parts about using foil and poking holes in it, but I want to give proper credit to the genius who saved my sanity that day, so check out that post here. It worked like a charm. In fact, I made my own tea infusers out of foil for the next three days, maybe four.

Roxie tea

When I finally visited my own Teavana store, the excellent saleswoman talked me into a better infuser than the basic model, and I ended up leaving there with MORE tea (ALL! THE! TEA!) as well as a tea tin and rock sugar. She was GOOD, but I put the brakes on before she talked me into buying a teaspoon. A TEASPOON. I have lots of those. Pfft. I mean, really. I should probably limit my mall trips.

Teavana visit

Since then, I have had ridiculously detailed conversations about tea. I would be annoying myself if I didn’t know that I am speaking the total truth about this tea. It changed my life. Wait, too much?

Liz and I actually discussed tea for a full eight minutes on the phone yesterday. EIGHT MINUTES. We talked about buying the tea. We talked about how I blame her for my addiction but she blames Heather and Holly (her two oldest kids) for introducing her to Teavana, and so by default I will blame them too. We talked about how nice that rainy, movie-watching, tea-drinking afternoon at her house was. We talked about the benefits of just adding the rock sugar to the infuser with the tea and letting it melt in that way. I told her that we sound like total addicts and we laughed, but in all seriousness there are worse things a person can be addicted to than awesome tea and happy memories, don’t you think?

11 Comments

    • Melisa Wells

      THERE IS NO CAFFEINE IN THIS TEAVANA RASPBERRY LIMEADE TEA, PAULA. I don’t know why I’m shouting.

  • TheNextMartha

    That woman walks to the back room and says to the other sales woman “Dammit, I ALMOST sold a teaspoon. SO close.” And then they both burst out in laughter.

  • Shannan

    I’m raising my mug of peppermint tea to you. Never, ever would have thought of a DIY tea infuser. And raspberry limeade tea sound simply fabulous. (They should totally pay you.)

  • Tara R.

    I am much more a tea drinker, than coffee. I have at least nine different tea blends sitting on my kitchen counter, and another equal amount in my cabinets. Sometimes a nice hot, cuppa is the only thing to make my day all better. I need to peruse the Teavana website.

  • Patty

    I LOVE Teavana equally as I LOVE Starbucks.

    I don’t understand what the words, “I don’t drink coffee.” It’s like your speaking in a foreign language! 😉 LOL

  • daniel

    I like a good tea. You CAN find it in the little paper/cloth envelopes that is good, but not here in America for the most part unless you do a lot of searching and find the ONE shop in a major metropolitan area that bags their own tea. Here in Seattle we have a couple of good tea shops, but my favorite is Murchie’s in Canda. Very good tea, and in bags too, though they do sell loose leaf as well.

    I am a coffee drinker though.

  • Liz

    I just enjoyed a nice cup of “the beverage that shall not be named” and, you know what? I think maybe I’m ready for another cup of, you know what. **wink-wink**

  • Heidi Sloss

    I went back to drinking coffee while we were living in Melbourne (one of THE best coffee cities in the world–look it up!). Mostly because it tastes so good, even after having not had any for 6+ years. But then I read somewhere that it helps prevent brain inflamation (something about constricting the blood vessels in a good way) and that it might be considered an Alzheimer’s preventative. And then I was back all in–with both feet!