Becoming a Tea Snob

I have to admit, I'm a bit of a tea snob. I've heard a lot of criticism about the inability to get a decent cuppa in this country. Most recently from Neil. I don't have the background of what it's like to get served excellent tea in other countries, but I do know that my preferred tea preparation seems to be, generally, what has been recommended by some Brits. I prefer decent loose stuff, and "boiling just a second ago" water. I've even solved some of the filtration issues (some claim that filtering and storing water alters the taste) by having a filter on my faucet. This means that I always have freshly filtered water.

So, yeah, I guess I'm a tea snob. But I still will take my cheapo Lipton "tea dust in a paper bag" to work and school. It's not a great experience, but it's still tea. And even though it's almost impossible to get water hot enough (at school I nuke it myself, then pour it into my cup with the bag), I still feel like maybe I have more control over tea than coffee.

There's not much of a point to this post other than to encourage everyone to seek out and find some good tea that is made properly, at least once. Oh, and my weigh in on the whole bergamot oil issue: I'm of the camp that believes it tastes like ass. But if you like it, more power to you. I'm not going to try to foist my view on the world. In the meantime, check out these teapots, about which I learned from Neil's blog, linked above.