Loose Leaf Tea
There is something healing and comforting about drinking a cup of tea. The world seems to slow down as the steam slowly billows around your face. The cup warms your hands and you find yourself reflexively leaning in.
I start most days with a cup of loose leaf tea. Each sip eases me into the day.
I’ve always loved tea. When I was little my mom would make it for me with a heaping spoonful of sugar. I used to get so excited to drink mint tea or herbal teas so heavily sugared that they tasted like juice. Every once in a while she and I would go downtown and have high tea at a fancy restaurant. I felt like a princess.
For years I had boxes and boxes of tea. All different varieties, and even some duplicates. I finally realized how few of them I truly liked. How I would most often reach for one or two varieties and the rest sat in their boxes collecting dust.
I got rid of it all. I gave away boxes to friends and family who visited and liked the tea or who drank it regularly. I schlepped the rest of it to work where it’s been slowly dwindling.
When I was done I was left with four teas I loved. Decaf vanilla black, chai, yerba mate, and mint. As the boxes slowly ran out I decided to replace them with loose leaf. It’s insanely cheaper, massively reduces waste, lasts me much longer, and the flavor is incredible.
I originally made the switch to cut back on how much each cup of tea wasted, especially when I couldn’t compost the wrapper or the tea bag. I bought one pound bags each of my favorite loose leaf teas, and I’m still drinking them more than two years later. Based on how much I have left, it seems likely they will last me another year or so.
