Do you ever find yourself not enjoying tea? (*Gasps* of disbelief echo through the internet)
Every couple of months I make some tea and find myself thinking "hmm, this really doesn’t taste like much of anything, why do I like to drink tea so much?
Then I realize that I haven’t changed my water filter in months, fix that problem, and make some more tea and go “OMG THIS IS DELICIOUS!!!”
It’s kind of amazing how much difference water quality can make :P
Definitely! You’re not alone! It happens to me periodically too. I tend to go through stages where all I want to do it sit around and drink tea, and then I can go weeks or months (eek!) without drinking any tea at all. If you find you’re burning yourself out, there’s no shame in taking a break and waiting for your passion to return. ’Cause it will. I wish you the best of luck getting through this stressful time.
I’m relieved to find that other people also experience tea “blahs” and think enough about it to start a discussion. I’ve noticed over the past week or so that tea has almost lost its charm for me. I was ready to chalk it up to my bad habit of becoming crazily obsessed with something, spinning into a whirlwind of overbuying and drowning myself in whatever my new “passion” is, and then quickly falling out of love with it. I did this with nail polish, then makeup, then juicing, and now tea (all in the last 18 months). Last month when I first started drinking tea, I enjoyed every second of it. I loved the ceremony of it. I loved smelling it. I loved watching it unfurl in my steeping pot. I loved sipping it. I loved reviewing it on Steepster. I found it to be peaceful and exciting at the same time. Within the last few days, I’ve started drinking tea just to drink it up because I’ve been on a month long buying spree, and I have collected SO much of it.
…I’m also under incredible stress at work. I own a small bakery in a suburban neighborhood, and our landlord just leased a nearby building to ANOTHER small bakery that sells most of the same menu items I’ve been specializing in for over 3 years. And when I say nearby, I mean I could jog to this new bakery in less than 20 seconds. I’m really worried that this will affect my business and our ability to grow. And in such a small area, this could seriously hinder my ability to make a living, and pay bills, and buy Christmas gifts, and invest in a future for my family. Ugh! Sorry to dump all my drama here, but I have a feeling that this personal stress is what’s causing my inability to enjoy tea with the same excitement and satisfaction that I felt just weeks ago. I wish I could turn to tea as a way of relieving stress, but instead, I just don’t enjoy it right now. Sure, It still tastes good, but the magic is lost. :(
Mm, bakeries! I know this will be a challenge for you, but also an opportunity to tailor yourself so that the market can either fit both of you, or you can ‘come out on top’ (though that sounds mean to the other guy). You could try some promotions or loyalty programs if you don’t have one, to encourage people to keep coming to you for the same standard they’ve enjoyed since you opened. If you could afford it, some marketing probably wouldn’t hurt since the new place is likely to have an ad blitz for their opening. Perhaps some customer feedback could allow you to add something to your menu that you didn’t know you were missing? I hope that there is enough bakery love out there for you to keep succeeding – good luck!
PS – Now I want to go home and make bread all day. MMM.
I’ve felt so busy lately even though I spend most of my day doing nothing that I just don’t want tea. I don’t think working 20-30 hours a week with coffee helps, neither does getting a pound of coffee for free a week. I can’t even drink the coffee! But I keep buying tea in hopes something changes.
I’m hoping now that it’s colder I’ll start back up. I could really use it for the sort of stress relief kind of thing but I think I have a problem now associating it with work…there is nothing worse in a huge rush of people than someone who wants a tea and nobody else is around to make it and then the line is at the door…like today…hell, I have 10 teas to choose from there that I could drink for free and I rarely do!
For awhile I wasn’t really noticing until today I’m trying to really clean up my apartment for next week and there’s all this tea everywhere.
Also it doesn’t help that I’ve been way drawn to beer lately and you’d think I’d be able to convince myself that tea is way cheaper to enjoy and is actually warming in a more comforting way but nooooo.
After reading lots of peoples comments, I’d like to offer my own tea habit. I keep a good and cheap ctc to clean my palate. It seems to set me back at GO when I’ve been drinking lot’s of tea. I’ll hover for a few days only drinking the ctc before starting to drink other tea again. Another thing…I reduced my stock way down! (Most of what you see in my cupboard is puerh or oolong which does not have to be consumed quickly)
Buy and drink really good tea. This is what I do! Like most of you I receive samples of tea but I don’t buy tea that I regret.
I think these things have helped me over the past two years not to get bored with tea.
This happens to me alllll the time. I just wait for it to pass as it usually has to do with stress or being upset about something else. Lately I’ve been super stressed so haven’t had nearly as much as I’d like!
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