Being Judged For Enjoying Tea?
I’ve never really felt “judged” for it – my roommate doesn’t understand, but that’s a different thing. She’s a dream, I love her to bits, and I think she just thinks its funny. And a lot of my professors have been really cool about it too – I got a couple tea companies recommended by one, and another professor compared me to his wife (which he’s always doing, and if it wasn’t this particular professor it would be weird. He’s just kind of a character.)
But I just really like tea, so it’s not that important to me what others think. I’m glad I have tea, because it makes me happy.
There is no doubt that tea and tea drinking is misunderstood. Historically, much of this comes from America’s wholesale rejection of tea following the Impossible Acts in the 1700’s (re: Britain).
These impressions of tea don’t exist in other countries, certainly not in large tea drinking countries like UK and Turkey where tea is the drink of CEOs, wise men and women, and heroes of every sort.
Recently, we’ve seen coffee gain prominence almost exclusively as the result of Starbucks—there is no “Starbucks of Tea” (though many people are trying).
So tea businesses are partly to blame, there is no concerted effort to brand tea as something heroes drink. In short—there is no effort to make tea cool. It seems the tea industry (looking at you Celestial Seasonings), is content perpetuating the grandma-y-ness & fluffiness of tea.
We are trying to change that at Hugo Tea. The brand has been built to show the world that heroes do drink tea. Awesome, dynamic people.
At Hugo Tea, we did our own small research study into these preconceptions about tea. A small tea surveyed 200 Undergraduates in the Midwest. The results are here:
WELL SAID!! I think I’ll share this with my work mates :)
thank you for putting into words some of the reasons I love tea so much
Actually i think aiming the marketing to more common types of people would work better, or generally emphasizing a particular type of tea as calming/soothing or another as invigorating with out the side effects of coffee.
HugoTea, Maybe starting another thread on that might be a good idea….slightly off topic.
That is sound advice. I’m not entirely clear on what you are suggesting though.
My boss and coworker is having a tea-intervention for my “condition”!! she thinks I need to stop :/
That’s insane. I mean as long as it isn’t because you are neglecting responsibilities at work because of tea. I had a fried that would steep as a chain smoker would. That’s not healthy, but if you are just getting your cup for enjoyment every so often or plain energizing then there shouldn’t be a problem.
Wow, a serious intervention?! That’s crazy, unless you’re bankrupting yourself why would you need an intervention, it’s not a drug. :/
I know right!? but I drink about 4-6 cups per day, if you count resteeps and I guess they consider that alot.
Part of it is that I feel guilty about wasting so much time boiling water etc so I prep two cups in the morning and then resteep those two or three times… and cut the time wastage in half!
Me too! One of my managers has declared herself my “tea sponsor.” So annoying.
And JC, when I’m at home, I do “chain drink” (as I like to call it) – haven’t seen anything be “unhealthy” about it, so I’m not sure what you mean. I did have one day where I think I drank too much (because I started to feel a little ill – not sure if it was the amount of liquid, or something in the teas bothering me), and I immediately stopped for the day when I didn’t feel good. Other than that one time…never seen anything “unhealthy” about it. Unless you just meant that your friend IS neglecting work responsibilities.
Wow – that’s redonk!
Hang in there, and try not to roll your eyes too much when they bother you haha ;)
Daisy: its all I can do not to! part of the problem is that my tea drawer is, well, overflowing lol
Daniel Scott: I don’t think there is anything unhealthy about it either, especially if most subsequent cups are resteeps anyhow!!
Daniel, I mean it not healthy at the work place. Just as chain smokers and coffee drinkers or just anything that you can’t seem to control. As far as tea at home… I have a 4 liter boiler and I have to refill it constantly, that being said… I pass not judgement about what you do at home :P
Ah! Yes, then I agree. I can’t do more than one mug of tea a day at work, or I need the washroom far more often than is fair to my co-workers. :P
My question would be do they (coworkers, boss.) get on those who drink alot of coffee to keep alert?
If it were me I would ask: Is my productivity suffering? No, then leave it alone…for all YOU know, my drinking tea could be helping it. Go bug what’s their name that keeps a huge coffee carafe on their desk!
lol! Or they could go bug the smokers that take 10min breaks every hour… DISCLAIMER: This is not to offend anyone that smokes. This is merely an observation of some cigarette addicts.
Our namesake Hugo had this to share on his journey:
“It is preposterous to see an obsession, as they call it, with tea as anything but a great achievement.
For an addiction to tea is quite different than the various other addictions in our time—that of tobacco or opiates, or things most debilitating.
Having had this obsession for the greater part of my life, I can be confident in saying that the pleasure I derive comes only in part from drinking the beverage—no, the most of it comes from the underpinning philosophy—the world-view for which tea stands. The 4000 year history and the search for genuine and relaxed contemplation.
It is a privilege to be obsessed with tea—truly it takes a great person to formulate this obsession and to understand its subtleties."
Cheers,
Hugo.
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