Adagio for Teas

Temmoku tea bowl, Song Dynasty, courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

When I was younger I thrived off of Safeway Select brand cola. The closest generic taste to genuine Coca Cola, it was luscious, plentiful, and cheap. I would often come home from high school, pop open an off-red can and nurse that until it turned warm and stale. Then around age 19 I developed a more sophisticated palate and evolved to sipping Lipton black tea. I had it in my mind that there was something sophisticated about tea, the singing kettle, the delicacy of my mother's white tea cups.

At a very young age I became fascinated with the American Revolution and remembered that tea played as a major factor in the war for independence. That carried over to my young adulthood, and when my grandmother asked me if I preferred tea or coffee one morning when she visited, I tilted my chin toward the ceiling and said in the most prim voice I could muster: "Tea, of course."

She sunbeamed a smile and went about preparing a pot; my grandmother is a globe trotter and had visited England earlier that year, where she learned how to make a "proper" cup of English tea.

I sat down at the table, my grandmother giving me a white cup full of something that smelled strange. I frowned and sniffed at the steam coming off the tea. This was no Lipton. When I took a sip of the heady black tea I tasted for the first time the fire of bergamot, combined with a black burn. I later learned that this was Earl Grey, one of the most famous varieties of black tea in the world. Suddenly hearing Captain Picard ordering: "Tea, Earl Grey, hot," all those years on the starship Enterprise made sense; I was hooked on tea for life.

As my palate grew I found myself heading into wide arcs where I could not get enough of one flavor for long periods of time. Metallic oolong, smoky yunnan bo nay, woody darjeeling (the exact tea the colonists threw into Boston Harbor), and Earl Gray all occupied my favourites shelf from time to time. I had friends with coastal access to Asian markets sending me supplies in Lipton-exotic Wyoming. Later, I discovered herbal teas, like choco-mint and chamomile, lemon grass and ginger being my favourites.

My mother recently gifted me with a tea press from Adagio, along with access to the several sampler sets of teas she purchased. She recommends the peppermint, while Jeff recommends the chocomint and I the foxtrot. They also have the Zodiac Series of teas in pretty tins, which blends teas according to your sun sign, if you believe in such things. My mother loves her Libra blend. I look forward to trying Virgo, which combines "white peony, chamomile and lemon grass," some of my favourite tastes.