A Real Tea Party

Over time, I've developed a very slight obsession with tea. I wouldn't say I'm a tea connoisseur by any means, but I do know details about tea that the average drinker probably doesn't, like black tea will get bitter if steeped in boiling water or in any temperature water for too long, rooibos is supposed to be helpful with combating allergies and chamomile is a natural muscle relaxant (that's why it helps you sleep and relieve tummy aches!). I've found a local tea shop in the Chicago area I like visiting, and it just feels so classy to sit around a pot of tea with friends, discussing the great topics of our current lives. I've even had a tea party here at St. Olaf on the floor of a friend's dorm room. Each person brought their own tea to the "table" and it was a teastravaganza!

I'd guess one of the reasons I started drinking tea was because of the classiness aspect. It's become associated with royalty, in European and Asian cultures. The Japanese tea ceremony is a highly refined art form, and all nobility would drink tea after meals, especially when it was still luxurious. According to MacFarlane this was true, but tea became an integral part of the working class life as well. If sustained laborers through the day, providing that extra boost to stay motivated in less-than-motivating work conditions. It truly became a staple of life; I wonder why that isn't more known. Where in history did we learn to associate it primarily with the upper class instead? Unless it is simply an error in my judgment, which is very possible. A possibility: somewhere along the way we stopped drinking it as frequently, and over time it faded from the commoner's mind but was still imprinted as a luxurious royalty item. Or maybe it's just because I live in America and it just wasn't as big of a deal here.

Either way, I'm far from aristocratic and I still adore the art of tea.