Tea

I pay attention to the silliest things -- like the shelves at the supermarket.  What products command the best spots?  How do the demands of consumers change the shelf space?  There's a war in the supermarket and we don't even know about it.  Brand versus brand.  Product type versus product type. Shelf versus shelf.

Coffee has been nudged out in the last few years by the tea display.  Wow.  There was a day when I would buy my then-favorite brand of tea and there was maybe Tetley, Lipton and one other off brand to choose from.  Took up a very small section of shelving while the coffee section was huge.  Both coffee and tea gained ground with the introduction of the same thing -- flavor.

There was the neatest store to visit in Fairlawn called Susan's Coffee and Tea Shop.  Smack in the middle of the Fairlawn Plaza (which is now pretty much taken up by Lucky Shoes), Susan's was an oasis.  They had homemade scones and other baked goods, as well as their unbelievably good blends of coffee.  Chocolate raspberry, rainforest crunch, French vanilla, Kenyan AA, and so many others that I can't remember now!!  We bought it by the bags for Christmas presents.  Some of the patrons of Susan's were the nouveau riche, as I would call them.  Decidedly affected, one of the most important parts of visiting Susan's was to try and ignore them.  Sounds pretty snotty, I know, but it was really quite the opposite.  Earthy people are the ones I tend to gravitate towards, not people trying to impress other people.  If I didn't ignore them, then I started to feel like the wrong kind of duck in the lake.  And it still sounds snotty!  Maybe I've learned to do better now.

Oh, and I'm not positive, but there might still be a Susan's in the Orangerie Mall in Akron.  Sorry to be changing the subject all of the time here. 

After a cup of Susan's coffee, one would feel like they could take on the world!  Caffeine does that.  Want to see me clean house?  Just give me a nice, strong cup of coffee and it's like the old commercial -- the white tornado!

But back to tea.  At some point it was obvious to me that coffee and I weren't getting along so well anymore.  Not on day-to-day basis anyhow.  A special cup here and there was okay, but my insides begged for a break so if you recall the old ad, "Take tea and see," that's what I did.  Good stuff, tea.  Calming, relaxing, about a third less caffeine but you still get some, and lots of flavors if you are into that. But just give me a good, old bag of Lipton tea and some sugar and that is just right.

Tea gained popularity, as I mentioned above, with flavor.  But there is more to the story.  Tea gained ground from widely circulated news reports that "green" tea was very good for a person.  Lots of antioxidants, you know.  And then there were green teas with flavors.  A never ending battle to gain the attention of consumers.  Hundreds of focus groups, marketers would say, to dissect our likes and dislikes.

My favorite tea story is one that occurred at the office at The University of Akron where I worked.  One day when I returned to my office space, a plastic glass of clear liquid with green leaves in it sat on my desk.  Nice warm clear liquid.  Turns out one of the graduate assistants wanted to do something nice for us so she had her mother in China send us the best green tea by air.  It was delicious and I didn't use any sugar.  It was such a lovely gesture of friendship.  One of those days when someone's kindness made you feel special.  And so on that day, east met west and it was good.

Some of my best contemplations are in the company of tea.  A cup of it sits on my work station here in the craft room as I write this.  No matter where I am, once the tea cup is full and hot, I am home.