"Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company." -Author Unknown
I recently organized the tea table at my parents' house. We've got lots of tea here: black tea, green tea, white tea, tisanes. My mother, an avid fan of Earl Grey, is the proud owner of no less than 13 boxes and canisters of Earl Grey teas, of varying qualities. I love tea, so this overstock is not a problem.
Last Sunday afternoon, I was cutting up T-shirts at the Unitarian Universalist Church. We were drinking tea to keep hydrated. Upon inspection of the tea selection, I chose chai. The scent brought forth unbidden a memory of two winters ago, when I would be snowed in at my house and I would drink cups of chai tea with my roommate Dylan and our friend Astrid. I drank a lot of chai tea last winter too, but somehow the aforementioned scent didn't provoke images of me downing caffeine before I would walk out to the bus stop in the pre-dawn darkness to go teach English to a bunch of mostly ungrateful little snots. I'm sorry, I didn't really mean that.
In France, I read a book about British culture that informed me of the hearty antioxidant powers of tea. These antioxidants do a lot of the same good work as fruits and veggies: "All teas from the camellia tea plant are rich in polyphenols, which are a type of antioxidant. These wonder nutrients scavenge for cell-damaging free radicals in the body and detoxify them, says Weisburger. "Astounding" aptly describes tea's antioxidant power, he tells WebMD. "Whether it's green or black, tea has about eight to 10 times the polyphenols found in fruits and vegetables."
Tea has power. It is good for the body and good for the soul. Tea, in my mind, is a wonderful thing.
