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IT’S MY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY ON STEEPSTER!
TOOTING MY HORN (If you don’t toot your own horn, nobody else will!)

So, why did I choose Cream of Earl Grey by DAVIDsTEA? It was one of my very first loose leaf tea purchases, and I found some in the cabinet.
Time to say adios to this packet, but not without a last cup to remember my journey.

I had never been a life-long tea drinker. I thought that tea was all fuss and pinky fingers up in the air…not for me at all. I liked strong coffee. My coffee came from Community Coffee in Louisiana and a small roaster (Cornucopia) in San Francisco.
While in Vancouver, B.C. at the Metropolis with my granddaughter Schey (Sept. 2011), we stopped in at Teaopia. We had never seen a tea shop like that before so I bought some tea for my daughter and a little Pumpkin tea for me.
My daughter says I found Steepster and I say she found it (seems more likely), but whatever the case…I joined Jan.5,2012, adding my first tea’s to the cupboard. (A couple flavors of Celestial Seasonings and Good Earth bagged tea’s).

Like most of you, I was stunned that anyone followed me, but the encouragement and friendship was genuine and continued month after month.

I soon got the hang of Steepster, learning from more experienced tea drinkers. I picked up the popular brands…especially DAVIDsTEA,
52tea’s and Teavivre (what a great help Teavivre’s samples were to my tea education in the beginning!)

I ordered this Earl Grey, Chocolate Orange Puerh (my first puerh), Oh Canada, Black and White, Check Mate and a few other tea’s as first ventures into loose leaf tea and was hooked. It was cool getting tea from Canada too!

If you told me a year ago that I would be drinking unflavored tea…hahahahaha…or Pu-erh that I would break off a Brick or Beeng…hahahahhaha. I wouldn’t just laugh, I’d scratch my head and say, “Bing who?”
Then, “What’s a Gaiwan?”, “What’s Gongfu?”, “What’s Sheng and Shu?”
Really?!

I’ve been binge tea drinking this weekend! A celebration!

I went to Boulder with granddaughter Schey and began at the fancy, hand-painted Dushanbe Tea House.

Next we went to Ku Cha Tea House and had tea on lovely low tables served with care and attention. The ratio of tea to water was correct. There was a soothing waterfall, Asian art and lush plants creating a restful place for sipping tea. (I ran into Alex Alan for those of you who know him here on Steepster. He looks happy!).

Today, I went to Happy Luckys and brought a 1953 Pu-erh Brick (blend) to share, that the HL guys broke apart for me (a first for Preston), and a sample tasting of a Taiwan Green Tea Powder.

While choreographing the breaking of the brick (careful prying), I drank a delicious hot chocolate matcha with steamed milk!

When I returned home much later, still uncertain about what to review, I finally chose this Earl Grey. It seemed right to go back to the beginning.

This is a tea that I would probably not drink today. I don’t mean this to sound snobbish.
I don’t drink as many flavored tea’s as I used to and this is too stong to me now. It seems that with all the tea tasting the past year, my taste buds are much more sensitive and this is not a tea that is subtle in the least.

I have used this tea in other ways, to infuse flavor into lemon and vanilla pudding. It’s good used that way!

So many people have taken my hands and guided me along, answering questions, never putting me down when I haven’t known what I was talking about. I’ve been naive and childish many times.

Puerh people that I asked questions about what shu and sheng is, Darjeeling people that I had to ask what first flush and second flush meant have infinite patience.

I’ve just scratched the surface…but looking back, I’m amazed that at my older age, I’ve learned so much in a year.
What has happened to me was summed up by my Priest, Fr. Evan, after a visit when we were drinking tea. I had explained my tea journey after the devastation of illness and divorce.

“Bonnie, you’ve changed this past year. I can see that you’re much less afraid of people. You seem to have come alive and are interacting with people in a way that I didn’t see in you before. You are on the right path, so keep doing what you’re doing and write about tea.”

Being on Steepster this year with all of you has been what has brought me alive and I want to thank you.
All the followers, those who comment now and then, those who send the messages in the envelope up top, the swaps and gifts, the Vendors who email me asking how I’m doing.

I want to name names but I won’t. The list is long and all of you are so important to me.

Here are the pictures of my crazy weekend of binge tea drinking (so far)! http://flic.kr/p/dJ7cRu