Awkward tea moments

All the time. I’m just not as good at stopping my tongue as you seem to be. Generally I realize that people are really, really, really not interested in the difference theanine makes when comparing the caffeine in coffee and the caffeine in tea or the history of technology and transportation as it affected the tea trade until the entire meeting is staring at me and my voice trails off into, “Well I thought it was interesting…”

Fortunately for me, I’m married to a historian who specializes in certain areas of technological development so he is always interested in this sort of thing. It makes our conversations when we walk lively and fun. Of course, if he were more nearly normal perhaps I wouldn’t persist in my belief that everyone else is fascinated as well. (Notice how I cleverly laid the blame for my inability to avoid embarrassing myself in meetings on my husband.)

Hey I don’t think you guys are embarrassing yourselves at all. Interesting stuff is just that interesting stuff. If people don’t want to broaden their perspectives that’s their problems. You 2 just keep posting this stuff. I, for one, find it great.

Now if you want to hear an awkward tea moment here is mine. A couple of my co-workers like to put their hot herb beverage (they call this tea—come on it is not) near me at work. One day I smelled something that, forgive me, smelled like cat pee and I stated this. Turns out it was their drink. Awkward…..

The only awkward moment is when my mom finds out I’ve bought something and criticizes me cuz she thinks I can’t afford it or have too much already (oh so she has a point there LOL).

I have no knowledge quite that interesting to share at this point. However, my tea loving has blossomed over the last two months and my husband likes to tell everyone about how much of it I have or the words I use that he doesn’t understand. This is somewhat embarrassing because I think it makes me sound like a nut job when he is saying it although I know he is not trying to portray me in that light.

If you think that making conversation about tea can be awkward and embarrassing, wait until you bring up the merits of circular vs. straight knitting needles in a crowd of non-knitters.

I was in my tea shop last week and this middle ageish couple walk in. They weren’t being helped so I evesdropped just enough to be able to chime in w/ my recommendations (I’ve been trying to get a job at this place so I thought not only helpful and curtious but knowing what I was talking about would give me brownie points). I quickly heard that he’s British and starting telling the woman he was basically how crappy American tea is. He didn’t actually say that, but that was the jist. I couldn’t tell if he was talking about “typical” American drinker’s tea or the tea in the store because I didn’t want to sit right next to them to listen and the laughter inside my head was too loud anyway. The things some people say in public!

Not so much a conversational problem for me – people seem amused when I rattle off tea trivia. On a trip to London a few years back, my sisters and I were in Haagen Dazs Cafe in Leicester Square. I ordered Ice Cream Tea, which is ice cream served with a pot of tea and a scone. Well, jet lag was really kicking in, and I managed to elbow the teapot right off the table. It made a large crashing noise which startled people nearby, but somehow the teapot didn’t break. So much for trying to be a quiet American.

Awkward moment #1: You send tea related gifts to not one but 3 tea drinkers and they are extremely ungreatful and return them.

Confession – I was the dumb American who put lemon and then milk in her tea when she travelled to London in ‘04. The waiter was kind enough to ignore my pot of curdled tea. Didn’t know better back then, but haven’t made that mistake again! In fact it was my trip to London that got me “into” real tea (not bagged Lipton).

For what it’s worth, Cream Tea at the Bramah Tea Room/Museum is ok (if you don’t mind getting lost in Bankside trying to find it). Not the best area for young women to walk alone! The museum was not worth the 6pounds though. Not even sure it’s still open, their website says they are “closed for refurbishment until early 2009” ? http://www.teaandcoffeemuseum.co.uk/

…I started to work in China about 6 years ago. I sat down in the canteen of the place I used to work for. In front of me a cup of jasmin tea…I am to open a bag of sugar in slow-motion and…like in the movies…conversations around me stopped.People stopped eating and kept looking at the stupid white boy who was about to destroy the scent of this rathet marvelous tea (althouh it came in a tea bag). The guy right next to me even gave me a rised eyebrow and asked: Oh…you drink with sugar? That was the last time that I did so…at home and indoors…taught me something