Monday, April 7, 2008

We like tea. We must start a blog.

We like tea, my mother and I.  We like it so much that we started a business together; a tea business.  People kept saying you have to start a blog.  Why?  Why did we have to have a blog?  I had only ever read one blog before constantly hearing this refrain.  So here I am posting my first entry.  

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We started an online business selling fine loose leaf teas in part because we could not find a location for our dream tea salon/room/space.  "Let's just get started," we said.  We would just start an online business--how original (ha, ha!).  We thougth people would be virtually lining up to buy our fine tea.  We thought everyone loved tea as much as we do. Because we like tea, nay because we love tea, we did start a business and then another and now a blog!  

When I finally made up my mind about this whole blog business I decided it would be as much about mother-daughter relationships as about starting a business dedicated to tea.  As you probably know, there are lots of blogs out there dedicated to the delightful elixir we all love.  I am not a tea expert and even if I get to the point that I start to think I am some time in the distant future, I probably won't actually be and expert.  So right off, I confess I do not know absolutely everything there is to know about tea.  I will not debate the merits of Green versus Black.  I like both.  And yes I do enjoy my tea with a little embellishment sometimes, often.  Milk? Yes.  Sugar? Yes. Things to dunk? Yes, yes.  I also like it plain.   I am an enigma--part tea snob, part tea hillbilly.  I no longer correct people when they call a tisane "tea" (even if it technically is not tea).  Nor to I turn up my nose to a microwave reheated cup of just cold tea.

What I do know about tea I either learned from or with my mother.  I actually know a bit more than she does as evidenced by my higher score on the Specialty Tea Institute Certification Test.  However, we both passed and no one but us really cares that we even took the course or passed the exam.

We just like tea.

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