341st Friday Blog Roundup
I used to have a friend in college who annoyed the ever-loving crap out of me by leaving his used tea bags (the actual kind, not the urban dictionary kind) on plates in his kitchen so he could reuse the bags several times.
I always felt terrible accepting a cup of tea because the saving of the tea bag signaled to me that this was an expense that worried him, a treat that needed to be rationed. But even if I bought him tea, he would still save the tea bags, insisting that it was wasteful to throw them out until they had been used many times. This annoyed me because it meant the dishes were never finished because there were always one or two more holding tea bags. Sometimes the counter was littered with a multitude of little plates and wilted tea bags.
I bought a box of vanilla rooibos to try from the local organic market this week, and I liked the first cup so much that I left the tea bag on a plate so I could make another cup in a moment without having to grab the step stool to reach the cabinet again. Every time I passed the plate, I thought of him and his annoying plated tea bag collection. I almost took a picture and mailed it to him. I wonder if he still saves his tea bags.
Do you? Do you save your tea bag and use it a second time? What about third? At what point do you toss it?
I am also curious about your teapinions — which teas you like that I might like. Here’s what I’m looking for — decaf or mostly decaf. Nothing that falls under the category of “weird ass shit.” I think you know exactly what I mean by this. It’s when you’re reading the ingredients list and it has something like dried placenta as one of the items. And while you may think I am making this up, go peruse the tea section at your local organic market and you’ll find some things that will shock and amuse you, making you do that laughing/crying thing simultaneously while dropping the box.
Beyond that, I don’t do things like beet juice. I just don’t. If you list dried beets as an ingredient, you have lost me. It also took me a long time to move onto drinking rooibos, just to give you a sense of how squeamish I am about trying new things. I still have not tried Yerba Mate. I don’t do ginseng.
So, for a squeamish pussy tea-drinker like me, what do you have? Especially stuff that’s decaf because do you honestly think I need more caffeine in my diet?
In case you are wondering about my teapinions, mostly so you don’t have to shell out $10 a box to try a tea you’ve never had, here are my thoughts on some recent purchases:
- Strawberry Chocolate (The Republic of Tea): uh… okay? It’s sort of growing on me. It’s one of those teas where I will finish the case, but I don’t know if I’ll buy again. If you like berry teas, you’ll probably love this one, but I’m not a huge fan of berry teas, so it’s so-so for me.
- Organic Vanilla Rooibos (Equal Exchange): excellent. I purchased a second box when I was only a few bags into the first box because I could tell that I’d want more in the future. Liked that it was simple, sweet enough to not need sugar, and didn’t contain weird ass shit such as dried human fingernail clippings.
- Decaffeinated Chai (Twinings): I’ve tried a lot of chais, and this is probably my favourite so far. Again, I can recognize every ingredient on the list and my tongue can recognize every ingredient as well.
So, your teapinions?
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Family Act of 2011 was introduced into Congress last week by Senator Gillibrand, which is a tax credit to cover out-of-pocket costs for infertility. Interested in seeing this become a law? Click over to Resolve to get involved.
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I am going to an all-ladies open jam session this weekend, which is a night that a bunch of thirty-something and forty-something women get together, drink beer, and play music. The songs were picked a week or two ago, and they told me what to learn when I signed up to be part of the group. They meet about once a month. Not sure what to expect — how far behind skill-wise I am from the rest of the group, whether I learned the correct chords for the songs, whether I’m going to look like an ass, whether I’m going to meet some really cool women to hang out with once a month. Will let you know how it turns out.
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And now the blogs…
But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:
- “Envy, Atheism, and Neil Gaiman” (Mommy Odyssey)
- “My ‘Expressing Motherhood’ Story” (Life Without Baby)
- “And Yet” (An Unwanted Path)
- “Out-Grieve Me” (The Mompetition)
- “Just Relax” (Are You Listening?)
Okay, now my choices this week.
The Hairy Farmer’s Family about Turbo squeezed at my heart; not just because it is a difficult situation, a sea of suck, a tenuous time period, but because despite all of that, the post is so beautifully written. And below the words is this undercurrent, this understanding of a mother’s love.
You too will find yourself singing Still Life with Circle’s song: “she is strong / she is brave / she can do anything she waaaaaaaaaants to do.” And your breath will catch with this line: “It seems a strange habit to try to control the passage of time by sheer will.” Aaaah, but this is the thought that killed me: “Ironically, the only permanent thing I know in my life is that Lucy is dead. Everything else I can hold in my arms is a lesson in impermanence and that scares the shit out of me.” Can you believe how beautiful this post is?
I love Tales of a Batty Nurse’s post about attending the Prince concert. It contains this thought: “Yes, it would have been more fun with someone but if I’ve learned nothing else from my life, I’ve learned that I can sit home thinking about what I would like to be doing and wishing I had someone to do things with or I can just go do them myself.” I love her differentiation between “alone” and “independent.” It’s a lovely post.
Lastly, I like this post about having a second child at Unwellness. I really liked the beginning — the contrast of the wet walk to holding a baby chick. And then it enters the well-trod territory of trying to make sense of family building; of how do you know and what if you can’t make it happen and what are you willing to try. There are never simple answers for anyone; with someone infertile, there are added layers. It’s not about finding the perfect answer; it’s about finding peace of heart.
The roundup to the Roundup: What tea do you like? Support the Family Act of 2011. Wish me luck at the open jam. And lots of great blog posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between May 13 and May 20) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week? Read the original open thread post here.
46 comments
I’ve grown rather fond of decaf green tea. It reminds me of green tea ice cream from my favorite Japanese restaurant. I also like Oregon decaf Chai (you can get it in liquid or powder form). Stash makes a great decaf Chai if you like using tea bags. It’s always fun to try new teas!
I like Mighty Leaf’s Chamomile Citrus tea. No caffeine, and it is great with a squirt of honey. I’d think it’d be good iced too, if that’s your thing. I also like Twinnings Earl Grey (decaf or not) so clearly I like a touch of citrus in my tea.
And using tea bags again?? First off, eeewwwwwww…and second, is this guy my grandmother that lived thru the depression or something? Here’s 10 cents, buddy, go buy a new tea bag.
Have fun rocking out this weekend!!
Thank you, sweetheart.
Am off tea just at present, but I generally like mine wishy washy – Gnat’s Piss, my Dad calls it – sweet and milky, whilst John likes his like brick-dust. Simple. I have the first extra-virgin pressing, before it goes on to stew for several minutes in John’s cup. Thrift AND everyone’s happy!
Re-using a cold one, on the other hand… woah. That’s some serious waste-not-want-not activity.
My mom does something with tea bags. I don’t think she reuses them for another cup of tea (but I am not sure, since I throw them away before she has the chance), but she leaves them sitting carefully on the edge of the sink. I think in case her cup of tea is not strong enough and she needs to put it back in?
Here’s my link this week. It’s from my blog but the comment section is getting spectacularly interesting. I asked what questions (or statements) people ask that may seem innocent on the surface but are actually hard questions. And the discussion is getting really great. http://herewegoajen.com/?p=1871
I drink Bigelow Plantation Mint. It is caffienated, but I can’t get through my day without it. I also will drink Bigelow’s Tension Tamer in the evenings sometimes. It is decaf, but still very good. I’ve got a couple of loose leaf decaf peppermint teas and a couple of decaf peach flavored teas, but they were acquired during a tea exchange and so the name of the tea is long since gone.
I like Lipton’s decaf orange herbal tea. It isn’t fancy, but it has ingredients like rose hips and orange rind and I add just a little honey to sweeten it. I do not keep tea bags to reuse unless I am in a restaurant and they only give you one bag for a whole pot of water. Then, I’ll reuse it. Otherwise, it goes in the trash.
Mmm…tea – never reuse the bags, but maybe it’s because I have so much tea, it’ll go bad if I don’t use a new bag each time. I like republic of tea’s Ginger peach green tea, as well as their vanilla rooibos. Also a fan of tazo’s rest, passion (for iced tea), and the green mint tea whose name escapes me. I love Earl grey, and have taken to drinking a decaf version. I tried lady grey (I think) awhile ago, and loved that, too – I think it has lavender in it… Rose mint is a nice, light herbal that’s perfect for the summer. Your best bet is to go to a tea shop an poke around!
I am obsessed with Celestial Seasoning’s candy cane lane. It’s a decaf green tea that tastes all minty and wonderful. It’s seasonal, so instead of making myself crazy and stalking grocery stores in December I finally got smart and started to buy it online. In packs of 6. Because N. has started to drink it obsessively too, and I don’t want to run out. (Yes, I am aware that this makes me sound like a lunatic).
I have been known to re-use tea bags. But generally it’s because I forget to take the teabag out of my mug at work and then just refill it for a second weaker cup.
most of the time I don’t reuse my teabags- I often make a pot of tea when I know I’m going to drink a bunch of cups & only use one bag to be cheap.
mango ceylon (republic of tea)- not sure if it comes in decaf but is one of the only fruit teas that I approve of.
GOOD earth- comes in caf but love the decaf version. Reminds me of gingerbread- absolutely love this tea!!
I reuse my teabags once, I find that I can’t get a strong enough cup out of them if I try to make more than two cups with the same teabag.
I really like mint tea, haven’t found a brand I don’t like and also decaf ginger peach (I can’t think of the brand but it comes in a canister.
http://copingwithmyfertilityjourney.blogspot.com/
Lately I’ve been drinking a lot of Celestial Seasonings’ Decaf Sweet Coconut Thai Chai. Lots of lovely, smooth flavors. I really enjoy it with a tiny bit of honey or sugar and some half and half.
http://www.celestialseasonings.com/products/detail.html/chai-teas/sweet-coconut-thai-decaf
I’m an avid tea drinker. I can’t start my day without a cup. I do reuse teabags but only once. If I try to use them a second time (for a third cup) then the bag always breaks. I’m partial to Red Rose for everyday drinking. Love English Breakfast and Earl Gray. We also make a pot of Jasmine from exploding flowers whenever we have Chinese food.
Another vote here for Celestial Seasoning’s Candy Cane Lane. Actually, all of their “holiday” teas are great. But my tried and true teas are Twinings’ English Breakfast and Irish Breakfast (both available in decaf, but I go for the caff).
Teabags should never be reused. Ugh! I think you can compost the old tea leaves though…
I’m on a white tea thing at the moment. It’s naturally low-caf. Basically it’s harvested when the tea leaves are still so young they have white fur on them, hence the name. Leaves don’t contain much in the way of caffeine at this stage. Or something, you know, I forget the details, might be one to google just to make sure. Big delicacy of the… Song, I think. But don’t quote me there either.
Buy loose-leaf and one of those Chinese insulated mugs with the strainer on top and refill with hot water until the leaves stop putting out, to save you the tea-bag woes.
Hey look at me back using the internet!
Bea
I’m mostly a green tea drinker, but I also love making my own ginger tea. I love it so much that I have a separate small stainless steel teapot expressly for this purpose. I slice a couple of inches of fresh ginger– wash but no need to peel it b/c you’re not going to eat the actual ginger anyway– and throw it directly into the teapot. Bring it to a boil then turn it down to a low simmer for 20-30 minutes. Pour, carefully straining out any slices of ginger that might make it out of the pot into your cup, and add honey to taste to sweeten. Sometimes I throw a cinnamon stick in the kettle as well. When its cooled I sometimes save whatever I didn’t use and put it in the fridge for later. Its great for an upset stomach, and ginger is naturally antiseptic and detoxifying. I don’t worry too much about cleaning out the pot carefully, but I don’t use the same pot for other teas b/c it can effect the flavor and sometimes ginger is not what I want.
I prefer Jasmin pearl tea from a local tea shop. I prefer to bag the tea my self, it feels fresher for some reason. We have teavana here but I think they are to expensive. My local tea place sells fantastic loose leaf teas.
I will head over now to check out the new legislation. Of course I support adding infertility to our insurance policies.
I hate tea! Weird for a Brit, I know.
One of my favorites that I drink at my Red Tent Temple is TAZO’s Passion Tea. It’s soothing, yummy, and decaf with hibiscis, orange peel, cinnamon, lemongrass, rose hips and some other deliciousness. I’m also a fan of their Calm tea (licorice and chamomile). Now, I hate licorice, but it’s one of the most soothing teas I’ve ever had. I love it so much, esp on a cold night. They also make a puckering/juicy Organic Red Apple herbal infusion that is REALLY yummy. Good shit all around 🙂
I have never met a tea I don’t like. A trip to the market to get new loose leaf tea is a joy. This post and subsequent comments just forced me to go boil some water.
On reusing the bags – completely and totally depends on the brand/flavor. I think you can usually get at least 2 cups from any celestial seasonings offering, for example. Lemon zinger may be my all time fave from them.
[funny side note story: when we did the celestial seasonings factory tour in CO, they let you drink all the samples you wanted in the lobby while you waited. They had a wall of boxes to choose from. Asked M what flavor he wanted….”um, one that tastes like coffee.” ]
and dude, you really need to rock some yerba mate. Esp because it gets better and better the more you keep reusing the leaves. I am bringing you some the next time I see you.
Mmmmm, tea. I’m a chai drinker, but I never reuse my tea bags.
You can tour Celestial Seasonings and drink samples? YUM! I love their tea. I have two recommendations. Around the holidays, Celestial Seasonings makes a gingerbread tea that is good. Also Licorice Spice tea is good. I think Bigelow makes it – not sure, it’s been awhile. It has a naturally sweet after-taste so even if you don’t add honey/sugar, after you swallow you have a sweet flavor.
I like local tea companies like this: http://www.urbaneteaco.com/ … velvety red and ginger snap are lovely, and they’re launching a nre line of “cookie” teas … 🙂
My parents always used to leave teabags in the teapot in the sink. I would notice because it would be part-filled with tepid water and I’d go to empty it out then end up picking the teabag out the sink. And I hated tea at the time, so it seemed very unfair!
I quite like raspberry tea, and Twinnings chai. Not very keen on rooibos and will drink green tea on the basis that its not exactly my favourite thing but seems healthy. I don’t reuse teabags.
On a non-caffienated note, I also like mango lassi. Not tea, but really good.
My favorite tea is Bigelow Constant Comment (and I really think the name fits, as it does make me want to go on and on about how much I like it)! I do reuse the tea bags sometimes, but usually only once and never for someone else, just for another cup of tea myself in the same sitting.
One of the posts that really spoke to me this week was this one of yours (see now, that we get to nominate for The Round Up, your posts can be included too!). For those who haven’t read it yet, it is a thought provoking blog entry about the power of words on the internet, both as they relate to commercial product reviews and how we talk about our personal lives and relationships online (via our blogs and such): https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2011/05/saying-crappy-things-on-the-internet/
I’m not a fan of herbal tea so I generally will drink an orange pekoe or an english breakfast tea, preferably Twinnings. I also really like Earl Grey, but again Twinnings, although I do like Bigelow’s Earl Grey. And I NEVER save the bag again because it’s not strong enough.
DH on the other hand is an herbal tea drinker, pretty much any kind. Although is favourite tea is Bigelow’s Orange & Spice which is next to impossible to find in Canada. So we usually stock up whenever we’re in the US. He always re-uses his bags a second time. He will use a single bag for a second use, but I don’t think that it’s strong enough so when I’m making it for him, I’ll use 2-3 used bags at once. If I can’t smell the orange spice, it’s not strong enough. 🙂 And according to the ‘net it has Rose Hips, Spices, Hibiscus, Orange Peel, Roasted Chicory, Natural Orange Flavors (soy lecithin) in it. This is about the only herbal tea I’ll drink or mint occasionally, when we’re the throws of a cycle and I’m trying to avoid caffeine.
I LOVE tea and my newest passion is white tea. LIke someone else said, it’s naturally low-caff and has a ton of benefits. Do you have Teavana by you? Head in there and they’ll show you anything you could possibly want. They’re expensive, though,but totally worth the indulgence. 🙂 My latest is Luna Pear tea. YUM!
I can have any brand of Earl Grey, but I also like green tea with mint. I used to save my teabags for a while, though for a different reason. I saved them in the freezer. And when I got to 20 or so I dyed one skein of yarn, enough for a pair of socks. I have been thinking about starting the process again, but too lazy to actually do it.
Good grief the tea bag scenario when my father is in the house…I love him but he keeps a tea bag in a coffee mug and just keeps adding water and microwaving the thing *all* *day* *long*. Heaven help the person who tries to toss the bag and/or wash the cup. It’s nuts. I think it’s more convenience than thrift. Argh. I’m such an insane coffee drinker though that I have (I am sure) equally annoying habits while I nurse my coffee(s) all day long. My in-laws can’t stand to have cups around the house after a small sip of tea or beer with dinner (cups are instantly whisked to the dishwasher) so husband and I have been training them to leave our cups handy lest we end up using 20 different cups throughout the course of the day which just seems silly (particularly in a culture that uses separate bowls/plates/cups for every single dish/entree/course of a meal). My mother-in-law actually has 2 dishwashers for this reason (big family + hundreds of dinnerware pieces = huge PIA). Don’t really need to add a bunch of cups and glasses to the mix throughout the day! Good luck with the jam sessioN!!
I love Bengal Spice, I think it’s a Celestial offering. Just the smell is amazing, and it makes great iced tea. I’m also a big fan of Constant Comment. I love Lemon Zinger with honey and lemon when I have a cold. I don’t reuse tea bags. I would, but the limp, wet tea bags just hanging around grosses me out. I compost mine.
Good luck with that jam session. What cool t shirt statement are you going to make? 😉
I’m pretty much just an herbal tea drinker, and at the moment I’m weirdly fond of Yogi Egyptian Licorice tea. I’m a one-cup-per-teabag gal and my mother uses them multiple times which drives me nuts, but I see now she’s far from alone — interesting.
Once upon a time, my sister was cleaning her earrings in a Dixie cup 1/4 full of rubbing alcohol on the bathroom sink, and I accidentally grabbed the cup, filled it up with water, and drank it. Then I spent the next several hours seated at the kitchen counter crying because Poison Control told my mom to make me drink tea. Therefore, I do not drink tea.
My husband leaves tea bags laying around for multiple uses, though. It annoys me.
As to something to read…well, May from Nuts in May linked to this one, and I think it would find favor in this particular community
http://xkcd.com/901/
Thanks Mel,
I am not a big tea drinker so the teas I drink are fairly generic. The two that I do really like if I choose any are both Celestial Seasonings and one is Sleepy Time (I don’t know if it really works or just works because I think it will) and the other is Mint Magic. I used to also do one from Safeway/Vons that was white tea and mint but it has too much sugar in it now.
Hm, thanks for the tea talk, it has reminded me of my cupboard full of neglected boxes. I have never reused bags, I don’t drink enough tea and nobody wants to share my teabags (as I drink herbal) so I don’t usually bother with a pot. Recommendations, I like anything with spearmint in, much nicer than peppermint, twinings do camomile and spearmint. Pukka teas do a tea called ‘love’ that has rose and lavender in, sounds odd, smells odd, tastes lovely.
Jam session sounds like it should be fantastic to me. That or terrible, I don’t think it could be middle-of-the-road. I’m hoping it will be great, it should give you such a lift (I’m imagining being surrounded by nice people playing instruments with good intentions rather than great skill :).
I have always loved chamolmile. I went to a tea shop last weekend and got a combo mint chamomille! so delish.
I love my morning cup of tea. I mostly use looseleaf rooibos, green rooibos, or decaf sencha. We have a 15 ounce teapot from Bee House which I love for making loose leaf tea. Typically I make chai by combining a chai spice blend of cardamom, ginger, black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove with sweetened condensed milk and then add a spoonful of the spice/milk mixture to the brewed tea. For pre-bagged tea I like Good Earth decaf.
So when you use the tea bag more than once how is the flavor on subsequent tries? That’s been my biggest hesitation.
similar to chai, but way better than chai tea is Bengal Spice by Celestial Seasonings. Yum.
Ok, I’m not sure if anyone has said it yet, but reusing teabags can actually be dangerous. Think about the warm damp environment it provides for nasty icky germs to grow… I actually had a friend who got pretty ill from resusing teabags that she had left out.
Ok, now that I’ve vented my spleen about that… I love Market Spice ( I think you can get a decaf version) and the Teaforte Winter Chai is great (altho, not decafinated).
i wish i knew more about teas….. that srawberry chocolate you speak of sounds amazing!!! will have ro try it….
Celestial Seasons Organic Vanilla Apple White. Needs NO sugar. Has licorice root for sweetness. DELISH. Hard to find though. And most of the Yogi teas are YUM. The one for belly discomfort (Stomach ease maybe?) is one of my favorites.
And I’m not a huge fan of berry teas either. 🙂
I love tea (in bags and loose leaf) ! I can drink tea from morning to night and generally do. My favorite teas are Jasmine green tea, vanilla (black or green) and black raspberry tea. But I do have close to 30 different teas in my cupboard. I do reuse my tea bags/strainers, as I prefer hot water flavored with tea. I don’t like my teas too strong as they start tasting bitter to me. Usually I can get 2-3 cups out of one bag, but it always depends on the tea. A friend and I just discussed a few weeks ago about Lipton tea’s campaign a few years ago saying that mold can grow in the tea bags if you reuse them. But I don’t see how mold can start growing so quickly (within a few hours?) and when you use boiling hot water.. In any case we both decided it was Lipton trying to get more sales out of their tea. 😀
My favourite tea you wouldn’t be able to get, but it is a rooi chai. A local tea shop makes up their own mix, and they use the BEST, FRESHEST spices (I’ve been known to steal cardamon pods out of the tea because they’re even better than the ones I get from the specialised spice shop). Yummy. It’s loose, and you can get 2 or 3 pots from one serve (so no tea bag sitting around 😉 ).
we drink a LOT of tea.
love rooibos, especially with vanilla. also love the decaf chais, some with rooibos.
love mighty leaf teas (expensive but worth it). I also like some of the numi teas. can’t deal with old stale tea.
I do drink a lot of green teas but none that taste like dirt. my fave is called ‘drum mountain’ and it’s very delicate with very little caffeine.
every night though I just pull some mint from the garden, brew and add some honey; nothing else like it.
@Lollipopgoldstein…..really enjoyed your blog and wanted to add that if you’d like to try one of our decaf teas… please give us a call at 1-888-244-3569 to request one or two.
@Kathy, thanks for comments on our Constant Comment, we appreciate you sharing them with all. @chickenpeg….glad to hear your a fan of the Constant Comment as well!
Kathy for Bigelow Tea
I love tea, and I have a ton of different kinds & flavours, but I tend to gravitate more to the caffeinated brands. Plain ol’ Tetley (orange pekoe) is what I mostly drink at home. I like Lipton’s Quietly Chamomile when I want something hot but it’s getting later in the evening, but it’s been getting harder to find lately, so I may have to switch to something else. At work, I bounce around the foodcourt. I generally have English Breakfast at the Second Cup in the morning, and sometimes get a steeped tea from Tim Hortons later, but the quality of that varies wildly. I also adore Awake tea lattes from Starbucks — they are now my Starbucks drink of choice. (At least until it warms up enough for frappucinos!) : )
My mother reuses her teabags. The idea appeals to the thrift gene in me, but honestly, I think it tastes like crap, even if I put two used bags in a cup to try to boost the flavour. Even if my mother uses a bag & then immediately sticks into my cup & pours hot water over it, I think it loses something.