Tea

[telophase]

We have a tea/book shop in town where you can go drink tea and read and purchase books--they have a small selection that gets rotated out, I believe. I dropped by for the first time yesterday, with my laptop, and put in a couple of hours of time actually writing.

(a) The have Assam tea! This ensures I will return, because in this area of the world any cafe-type place that claims to offer a variety of tea actually offers a variety of substances that give you the sensation you're drinking potpourri, and not tea. Tea may be involved at some point, but overall, potpourri.

We have written off a coffee-and-biscuits place that opened near campus because literally the closest thing they had to plain black tea was Earl Grey, and when I emailed to ask if there was a chance that they could add something like Assam or Darjeeling to their rotation because I disliked teas that tasted like potpourri, the proprietor instead said they had green tea and then proceeded to mansplain green tea at me. I considered explaining back that the only cup of green tea I've ever liked is the one I had prepared the traditional way at a Japanese monastery that I drank in the temple grounds while listening to the chanting of monks, and that his green tea was never going to equal that experience, especially given that his much-vaunted biscuits were actually sort of dry, in order to out-snooty him, but in the end decided not to and deleted the email.

(b) So apparently I'm a coffeeshop writing person, which I never expected. This makes 3 out of 3 times that I've brought my laptop to a coffeeshop-type place (the first two were Starbucks, while waiting a couple hours to meet people for something) and actually got writing done. I didn't expect that, because I couldn't ever study while in a place like that, but I guess the difference is that I'm currently hyperfocused on this story and I have never been hyperfocused on my studies.

Comments

[yhlee]

Oh, how nice! I want an experience like that. :)

Meanwhile, I actually once wrote a scene set in a coffeeshop to Coffitivity (the offline version), which plays cafe sounds at you. *g* I know it's not the same as physically being in a cafe, but since I have a hard time getting to a cafe, hey. XD

[telophase]

It was on my 2007 trip to Japan with rachelmanija. I don't remember the exact temple, but it was a big one a train stop or so away from the giant Buddha of Kamakura. :)

[thawrecka]

Coffee shop writing can work surprisingly well! When I've done it I've taken a notebook and pen instead of laptop, because I'm paranoid about liquids, but it is weird how well it can work.

I can't say I've ever been into any of the fancier teas. I'm a pretty solid English Breakfast drinker, though I do like a nice bitter green tea on occasion.

[telophase]

The problem with living in the US is that nobody knows how to make a proper cup of tea, and if you order hot tea at a restaurant, you end up with a box that has a selection of random tea bags in it, most of which have various flavors, plus one English Breakfast if you're lucky, plus a ceramic teapot full of lukewarm water that might have been boiling when they poured it, but which has been sitting around waiting for the server to get the rest of the order together.

AND NOBODY SEES ANYTHING WRONG WITH THIS

[thawrecka]

That is genuinely awful! How can people disrespect tea like that?

[movingfinger]

Lousy American restaurant tea turned me into a coffee drinker. At home, I have good tea, proper filtered teapots, an electric kettle, and a timer. In restaurants, brown water.

[telophase]

I wish I liked coffee. It's just too bitter for me.

[telophase]

They never learned any better! They have been taught that a bag of Lipton dunked in lukewarm water is tea!

[oracne]

Assam is my favorite. And whatever is in Kenyan tea (I think that's also Assam). And matcha.

[telophase]

I'll have to look for Kenyan tea. I'm currently buying Assam from Vadham Teas, which claims to buy directly from the tea growers in India. I also have a box of their Darjeeling but it's just a hair too flowery for my tastes. I'll finish the box, but probably won't buy more.