28 June 2015

Becoming a Tea Drinker?

Holding a cup of Earl Grey tea at World Tea Expo 2015

Before going to last month's World Tea Expo, I had maybe consumed a handful of teas in my life, certainly no more than a dozen. And I didn't particularly care for them.
However, while at the World Tea Expo, I had teas, then more teas, and even still more teas. And, lo and behold, I began to like them!
Yes, I had been a coffee drinker, although teas are of a different character.  While coffee seems to confront its drinker with a fuller and more aggressive mouth experience, tea seems to me to more subtle.  Yes, I still drink coffee and am not planning on giving it up.  However, I have begun not only to like tea, but also drink it instead of coffee at times.  
It is not only the subtler taste that appeals to me at times, but also the way that I have experienced the caffeine's effects.  Yes, there are teas with less caffeine, but for those with caffeine - such as two of my current favorites, Earl Grey and Darjeeling (first or second flush) - I have enjoyed the way that they help me focus more cerebrally than does the caffeine with coffee.
This one-two punch of a more subtle taste as well as a more enjoyable effect of caffeine has caused me to become someone who now likes to drink tea.

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