So the pandemic hit me hard. I am not saying I was fully sane before the pandemic but remote MATD workshops, spacing my typeface in solitude, and dissertation writing affected my judgment and I just went crazy with tea. Some people spent their money on toilet rolls during isolation but I spent (yes, I still do it today —sorry, not sorry—) my savings on tea. That majestic hot beverage commonly prepared by pouring boiling water over some fresh or dry leaves.
I had a perfect excuse to start spending my money at the tea shop: I wanted to stop using “bagged” tea and use an eco-friendly waste-less option instead. First, I needed some tea for breakfast—and I know after living in Reading I should have bought Earl Grey or Breakfast Tea—but I went for “Praliné” and I did not go wrong. It tastes like hazelnuts and chocolate and that’s what I need in the morning. “Berry Fields” was for the second breakfast. It tastes like a forest fruit yogurt. However, I couldn’t stop there, could I? I also needed tea for the afternoon. But the afternoon is quite long so I bought two: a green tea called “Moroccan” which has a hint of peppermint and “Choco Turrón” which is a red tea perfect for the Holidays as it tastes just like drinking liquid turrón, a traditional Christmas nougat dessert from Spain. Of course, no evening should be without tea so I went for something with less caffeine. I bought “Happy Pumpkin”: a mix of Autumn flavors (such as cinnamon, pumpkin, carob, or apple). And, as very much expected, the parade of tea did not stop there: Pakistaní, Herbal Spirit, Asian Wellness, Toffee, Pu Erh Chai, Gracia Blend, Piña Colada, Copacabana, and others came along…
Here you can see some (because it’s just a gist of reality) of my tea collection.
At this point, my tea repertoire has become rather extensive. Luckily enough, in Barcelona, every Monday evening, people leave their unwanted furniture on the street for garbage collection and I found this perfect bookcase (now a teacase) where I could put all my beautiful tea boxes. I purchased some cool boxes in IKEA in which I magnetized all the tea labels with small magnets.
My roommates tell me that maybe it is time to stop and that I should finish the tea I already have before I buy more. But we all know that is not gonna happen and that I plan to go further with this tea madness.
Bette(r) Days celebrates the things that did not suck in 2020. Each day in December, we’ll be posting about the highlights of our collective garbage fire of a year, type-related or not.