Inside, Outside, T-E-A

Tea: Oolong No. 18

Music: Holly Cole, "River"

Time: Night.

I made the tea just before leaving the house late this afternoon, because I hadn't had any caffeine yet today and I could feel a withdrawal headache coming on.

The travel mug I chose wasn't as insulated as some others I have, and I could feel the heat from the tea seeping through to my hands. As I was riding on a bus with a bum heater, this was a good thing.

The warming was more than physical, though. There was the warmth of gratitude for small pleasures, for the things (clean water, electricity) that went into making the tea -- things I take for granted, but which much of the world cannot ... and for the generosity of the giver not only of the tea, but of the teakettle and the infuser.

In cold times, it's good to be warmed that deeply.

Simple Pleasure Complex

Tea: Mandarin Green with Honey

Music: Cheb Tarik, "L'Histoire"

Time: Night.

One cup of spiced tea, flavored with honey. Three minutes to heat the water, three more to steep.

Six minutes to happiness, right?

Far ... very far ... from it.

Someone -- more precisely, a series of someones -- had to plant and tend the tea plants, harvest the tea, dry the tea, season the tea, package the tea, ship the tea, purchase and send the tea (the last step involving an entire sub-series of someones.)

Other someones planted and nurtured orange trees, picked the fruit, peeled the fruit, dried the peel and added it to the tea.

Still more someones harvested the cinnamon, ground it and put it into the mix.

Meanwhile, somewhere else, flowers grew. Bees visited the flowers, went home and made honey. A beekeeper harvested it. Someone else bottled it. Other someones packed it, transported it and stocked it at the market.

Think we're done yet? Hardly.

The electric teakettle, from inventor's spark to yet more shipping someones, passed through who knows how many lives. How many people built the water treatment plant, built and laid the mains, designed and manufactured the fixtures and hooked up the plumbing? How many more put together the power grid, ran the lines, wired the outlet (and made the tools that made that task possible)?

And we haven't even talked about the mug ...

Simple pleasures don't just magically appear out of thin air. They have roots reaching eons deep. All the more reason to appreciate them, I'd say.

Levi-Tea

Tea: Mandarin Green

Music: Roxy Music, "Avalon"

Time: Night.

Wow, two straight days of tea posts in a tea blog. I must be slipping.

But this tea ... wow.

Mandarin Green, which arrived yesterday as part of a tea-themed care package from friend/collaborator/undefinable kindred spirit Seánan Forbes (which package also included a really cool electric teakettle), has leaped to a high spot on the favorites list.

It's loaded (but not overloaded) with orange flavor, which really suits this time of year. I'm no synesthete, but this tea is full of candles.

And today, I've filled and refilled myself with the glow. It's made for some giddy moments (picture a caffeinated cartoon bunny on a pogo stick) ... but after seven cups by my (lost) count, I'm hitting crash point.

Tomorrow's another day, though. And there's still more Mandarin Orange.

(Boing, boing, boing ...)