It’s easy to find tea lovers in Asia, but the task is much harder in most of the West.
Specialty tea isn’t mainstream.
Where I live is even worse, because there’s a strong coffee culture.
So I tend to drink tea alone most of the time.
Most of the tea enthusiasts that I know personally are either living in the US or in Japan.
And although my wife does drink tea, she isn’t that much into it.
I mean, she’ll drink tea each day, but she isn’t normally interested in having a long tea session of different teas with more people.
There’s a big tea community online, but it’s not the same as physically sharing a cup of tea.
Anyway, I do have some local tea friends.
About 5 of them. But I spend the most time with just one.
We became close friends through tea, drinking together about once or twice every two weeks.
And we also chat in WhatsApp two or three times each week.
My friend is much more knowledgeable than me regarding Chinese teas, and his tea stash is much larger than mine.
We often trade teas and taste new ones together.
Every once in a while, we manage to bring another friend into a tea session.
I find that drinking tea with friends gives me a sense of belonging.
The locals consider loose leaf tea drinking to be something odd.
I don’t like to drink coffee, wine, nor beer, which is are much more popular in this country than tea.
By they way, I do like to drink alcohol every once in a while. Strong liquors like rum, tequila and mezcal.
But it isn’t something that I can do often. It’s not good for the mind and body, not to mention my finances.
The people that know me and aren’t into tea (in other words, most of them) think that I’m just weird.
Well, I guess that I am sort of strange, now that I think about it.
Can’t do anything about that.
Anyway, drinking tea with friends leads to meaningful conversations and deeper social bonding.
Tea tastes much better with friends.
I can remember many special occasions when I was drinking tea with someone.
Whenever I have a very special tea, I prefer to share it.
It’s just not so fun to drink tea by myself all the time, no matter how good a specific tea is.
Although drinking tea alone is better than doing nothing.
In the future, I would also like to travel for tea tourism and meet new people through tea.
That would be great.
Some day when my budget allows it.
January 10, 2024
I hear you. I know quite a few people who drink just tea but stick to one brand / one kind. They are not interested in expanding their palette. They know what they like and stick to it. Boring as far as I’m concerned. While I can’t tolerate most darker teas due to health issues but I do try them from time to time especially when I get free samples and have found a couple that I can tolerate. But I do have a fairly good variety of Japanese and Chinese green teas which I enjoy very much. I pick a new one every day to drink. Like you most of my info / conversations happen on the internet unfortunately. There is the annual Toronto Tea Festival happening in a few weeks that I am looking forward to. Can’t wait to chat with other fellow tea enthusiasts and try something new that maybe I can add to my collection. Plus there are some good lectures happening as well. Any way I enjoy you little blurbs about tea especially Japanese teas as there is more about Chinese than Japanese. Keep up the good work. Maybe if you ever come to Canada sometime we could meet up for a cup of tea 😊
All the best for 2024
Sharon
January 10, 2024
Hi Sharon, thank you for your comment.
Not expanding the palate sounds boring to me too.
Have fun at the tea festival, I wish I could attend.
I have good memories from years ago when I attended the World Tea Expo in the US. Now that expo is not what it used it to be, and I don’t have the money to travel there anyway.
January 10, 2024
I hope you are having a better day! I don’t know anyone personally who drinks Japanese green tea besides myself. Of course, a few people drink “match lattes” from coffee shops but that is definitely not the same to me.
Thanks for posting!
January 10, 2024
Hi Bill.
Thanks for commenting.
Sorry to hear that you don’t have a tea friend at all. Hopefully that will change in the near future.
January 17, 2024
I just discovered your site while doing some research on Gyokuro teas. I’m like you and the others that have commented, big tea drinker, but not many around me share the enthusiasm for experimenting and being adventurous. No te preocupes paisa aunque cafe es la mas popular en nuetros paises algun dia lograremos adelantar las buenas vibras del te a latinoamerica. 😛
January 17, 2024
Hi Devin
Thank your for your comment.
Yes, one day tea will conquer Latin America.