Hello everyone! I’d like to welcome you to my new blog here on TeaTrade. I think a proper way to introduce this blog will be to introduce both me and introduce you all to the concept of the blog!
So to start off, I’ll introduce myself!
My name is Ian and I’m 15 years old and live in Northwest Vermont. I’ve been drinking tea for as long as I can remember but I’ve been drinking loose leaf tea since late 2010 (so a little over a year now). I drink a lot of teas from around the spectrum, but my favorites are (unflavored) black teas, though I like them all. When it comes to flavors, I like lighter and sweeter flavors (like fruit, chocolate, etc.) and I’m also a fan of Earl Grey’s. When it comes to tisanes I’m drawn more to fruit teas and alternatives to conventional tea (like mate and rooibos). My interests outside of the tea world are vast. I’m a huge supporter of/participant in the arts. I play clarinet (I have for 5 years now) and I love it. I’m also interested in art history, which brings about my love for the visual arts. I also dabble in photography (view my photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ienjoytea/).
So, now on to the other part of this introduction. This blog!
The goal of this blog is to connect tea with the arts in sort of a synesthesial way. This means I’ll be connecting teas with various aspects of art such as writing, visual art (painting, sculpture, etc.), music, and movies. Examples of this could include:
- A painting that the tea I’m drinking reminds me of
- A downloadable playlist of music that I listen to when I drink tea
- A movie to watch a tea with
- A journey through the book I’m reading and the tea I’m drinking
- Movies, literature, and other arts that deal with tea
The main goal is to get tea to go beyond the formal taste aspect and connect with the other senses.
I hope you enjoy and I look forward to starting!
Welcome and it looks that you have quite a few things on your list already.
Hi @ianerickson – You’re our youngest member but your first blog post is impressive. Thanks for introducing yourself. It’s interesting you’ve been a tea drinker for years, I take it that means your family drink tea too. That’s great.
How did you get on to loose leaf tea? Do you have any favorite stores/brand? Does VT have plenty of tea stores?
Also..do you have any friends who drink tea, or are you the only one your age you know who likes a good cuppa?
Hi @jackie! I’m honored to be the youngest member
. My family does drink bagged tea, but I’m the only one who really appreciates loose leaf. Neither of my parents really get it (the fascination I mean) but sometimes they are willing to take a sip of whatever I have in my cup! I actually discovered loose leaf tea by starting my Tumblr. I started following a lot of people who talked about tea and so I got more and more into bagged tea, and then I got an account of stumbleupon and constantly browsed the “tea” category, and slowly got more and more into the loose leaf world. As for my favorite stores/brands: I haven’t tried too many different brands but I can say that out of the ones I’ve tried, I am in LOVE with Harney & Sons. I’ve had a lot of teas from them (by far the most out of any other company) and I find that they’re all pretty good. I also really like DAVIDsTEA and Adagio for their flavored varieties. Sadly, though, Vermont barely has ANY tea stores. Some larger brand stores here do carry somewhat nice versions of tea, but there’s not really anywhere that has a very impressive selection of loose leaf (we don’t even have a Teavana D:) so I find myself doing a lot of online tea shopping. I do have one friend that likes loose leaf tea, though not on the same level as I do. She does understand and appreciate it and she’s probably the only person who doesn’t poke fun at it. I have a few other friends who like bagged teas, but none of them are into loose leaf.
You drink tea AND play the clarinet? Don’t you want to have any friends at all?
At 15, shouldn’t you be out tearing down the boundaries of society and being delinquent?
Good luck and may your ambitions steep well and bring us many good teatimes.