Tea Indoctrination

A number of weeks ago, I asked someone I *know* at twitter if she was drinking tea, and she meekly answered that she didn't like tea. Jokingly, she wondered if I'd have nothing more to do with her. Instead I began to kid her about bringing her over to the leaf-side.

It really was all in good fun. It wasn't supposed to go anywhere from there. But I continued to send her queries about the tea indoctrination that was slowly but surely taking place. But again-unbeknownst to me. One day, out of the blue, she said, 'Ok, and I'm not promising anything, but what would I start with?'

Now I was flummoxed. Uh? I don't know. This was a new prospect. But I liked it. The longer I thought about it, I liked it more and more.

I've said it again and again here: I want to help people get into tea. The history and the culture of tea interests me, but the thought that I could actually help people into this little corner of the tea world really intrigues me. So I had to ponder this one a few moments.

And what did I answer? First I asked more questions. I realised I had no idea what her tastes were, so I asked if she preferred white or red wine. How did she take her coffee? Spicy food?

And with all of that, I made a horrible suggestion. Earl Grey. What was I thinking? Actually, I was thinking finding some Earl Grey bags would be about the easiest thing for her to locate. I got deeper into tea by starting with Earl Grey. Why not? Well, because it's not a good beginning. She really didn't like it. At all.

I'd also recommended Oolong, but my impression was that there weren't any tea shops nearby. Before I recommended she buy tea over the net, I offered to send her some. Let me be clear, I have no intention of making a habit of this. The prospect of helping someone into tea was too enticing to let it pass by. But in the future, I believe I'll have some alternative sources on offer.

Not that I'm in any way regretful about what happened next. But I'm going to let her tell you that story. Exciting, eh?

In the next several days, you'll be able to read about her impressions of the teas I thought she'd like. She's agreed to be a guest blogger here, and has been diligently keeping notes throughout the whole process. What a story.

Stay tuned. I think you'll like this one.

tea indocrination

I know this young woman on twitter who announced a month or so ago that she doesn’t drink tea. She knows I’m a tea-obsessive, and she half jokingly says she expects me to want nothing more to do with her. Far from it. She’s my demographic.

Aside from being a woman, and I like the womens, she’s also a non tea drinker. That’s exactly who I’m trying to reach with this blog. People who one day say to themselves, ‘Why are so many social media types into tea?’

Next, this hypothetical person (who was just asking about people with tea problems) stumbles onto a site like leafboxtea or indonique or ratetea (or even lahikmajoedrinkstea) and starts to understand. The worst thing I could do here, other than be boring, is to somehow be elitist about tea. I attempt to be informative for the person new to tea. The more curious he/she is, the better.

Back to my story:

She jokes with me about it, and I assure her that no. I don’t want nothing to do with her. I want everything to do with her. Next, I threaten to indoctrinate her to the leaf-side. Pull her into the tea-drinking crown. I predict that soon enough she’ll be drinking the bitter, tannic liquor that most of us refer to as tea.

Fast-forward a few weeks later. We banter back and forth about her impending indoctrination. Eventually, she caves and one day she unexpectedly says something like, ‘Ok, I’m not promising anything, but if I were to try some tea, what would I start with?’

My window of opportunity.

You may not agree with what I do next, but she didn’t ask you. I ask her what kind of wine she drinks (she doesn’t drink alcohol) and how she takes her coffee (to see if she liked sweet things and/or dairy). Does she like spicy food? Not sure what that might tell me, but by now I’m just trying to appear professorial. It’s completely useless. I simply look like a knob.

What I do first is tell her to try Earl Grey. Not because I like Earl Grey. Bergamot oil makes me nauseous, and I haven’t drunk Earl Grey in years. At least not willingly.

Here’s my question for you my gentle, lovely readers: what would you suggest to her in this situation?

I don’t want to go green so early on (think I’ll ease into that), so I suggest Oolong when she says Earl Grey isn’t to her taste. What do you think? It’s an intriguing question isn’t it? I really think so. Here you have someone who really wants to make the plunge into tea drinking.

Where does one start? Please weigh in, and I’ll pass the ideas onto her. Can’t wait to hear what you have to say. Cannot wait.