Librarian Pirate

It's funny - I have all sorts of posts in my head that are waiting to be typed, but when I get online to blog I rarely type up my old posts - instead I type about what I want to type right now.

Today is no exception.

I am a tea addict - absolutely and completely obsessed with tea. When I was in college, my friends and I would hurry to Dobra Tea multiple times a week. I always got the Yogi. The two friends I went with most often got the Memories of Prague (over which she would always share her memories of Prague. She's gotten herself quite a few more since we last went. Next time there will be tons to talk about), and the Rooibos. Other friends I went with were a bit more varied - There was often a Rize Cay at our table, sometimes a Boston Tea Party, or a Mate Rancho. It was great times that will be revisited soon.

Being winter, my tea addiction has thrown itself into the ring with full force once again. During the summer I let it wane, trying a couple new varieties of iced tea, but not being nearly as obsessive as I usually am. I spent a fabulous evening last week with my husband's best friend's parents, aunt, and uncle. Sounds crazy, but it was great. My husband has always been close with his best friend's parents, and they were in town visiting family and invited us along. It seems that my friend's aunt is also a tea drinker and it was great being able to sit and talk and have fun over a cup of tea. It always seems to slow everything down when tea is involved - to bring everything more sharply into focus.

The main point of this post was to share some great tea links I have found. After posting this I'll probably add them to my sidebar just in case I attract tea addicted readers in the future.

Adagio Tea is great fun. Someday I plan on investing in their Concert Tea Pot. I think it would be great fun to sit that on top of my desk at a library and just sip tea all day while sorting through books and ephemera, living the romanticised idea of what a librarian does. I know it wouldn't really work like that, but let me have my dreams, ok? Adagio has a huge selection of tea, great tea pots, and if you have a tea lover in your life but don't know what to get him/her, they also have gift certificates! (Why didn't I discover them before Christmas? Oh the tragedy! (: )

Numi Tea is also fun. They seem to have a huge collection of "display teas," which seem like way too much fun. I'm especially excited to try their Dragon Lily, but that might just be the name. All their teas are organic and packaged in sustainable materials to appease the inner environmentalist, and someday when I'm not a poor grad student I plan on spending way too much money there.

Rishi Teas are also all organic, and they're completely fair trade. They seem (from my limited view of them) to have a Japanese bent to their tea-stock, with more oolongs than anywhere else I've noticed. This is a great site for someone who doesn't know much about tea, because they explain all the different types really well at the top of each page.

Argo Tea is really not the best tea house and a pretty crappy website. They make concentrated tea every morning then dilute it and heat it when it is ordered. That said, the loose leaf tea that they sell is absolutely fabulous if you buy it and make it themselves. Around where I am it is sold at Whole Foods Market, so it's one of my staples and I heartily recommend the tea. Just stay away from the tea house! (:

Tea Map is good for when you want to find a tea place near you. I've found a bunch more tea rooms near me that I am going to drag my fellow tea addicts to when they come to visit me.

I'll stop there, for now. Perhaps soon I'll find more and be forced to let you all know! For now, though, I just want to let you all know about these great tea sites.