I'm becoming a tea drinker......

I still must have my morning pot of good strong coffee, but....my children brought me some lovely English teas back from London, and I'm having such fun trying them all out. Celestial Seasonings is my usual brand of choice but I must say that these English teas are tip top.

My only problem has been that the English teas give instructions for brewing a pot of tea. I brew it by the mug. On the boxes, the English instructions say to brew a mug of tea - "....to the strength required." How the hell do I know what strength I require without being told?

Is it an American thing (or, as J tells me -- the German part of me) that I want directions on how to do unfamiliar things (like brew British tea)? I want directions, rules. Give me a framework and I can get started. Now....I can't promise that I'll stay within that framework when all is said and done (I do like choices), but....without a frameword it's damn hard for me to get started.

So....I looked up Whittard teas online, and on their website I found my answer. Somewhere on their site it said that "old man Whittard" (they called him that -- not me!) ....that old man Whittard said that brewing tea should be part of the ceremony of the tea drinking process. That you learn, as you brew, how you like your tea. (Now I'm paraphrasing here -- in a way that 'old man Whittard' might not have agreed with, but....I am an/a 'Merican, after all.)

That's all it took. I understand now. I'm supposed to learn by doing. I can do that. But, it would have been so much easier for me if they'd just printed to brew a mug of tea for "....2 to 3 minutes. or ....4 to 6 minutes." Then....I could have started to enjoy the tea drinking process much easier and sooner.

For what it's worth....I did pick up one little ditty from their website that will probably stick with me like the "Hide from wind. Run from water." saying resounds in my mind. Here's my new saying. "The smaller the leaf, the stronger the tea." ....Who knew?

Let me quickly say that as far as shopping is concerned, LONDON ROCKS!

I want all my Christmas presents to come from London from now on....