My history with tea

Ah, no this is not a post about the history of tea but about my history with tea. Two slightly different subjects, I believe. And if you want to read about the history of tea, leave me a comment and might post about it sometime! Also, if you are wondering where the last Sparks O' a Story is, don't worry! It is the last one so I want it to be perfect before I put it out there for the world to see. I hope you can be at least a little bit understanding.

This rather dear teapot of mine got broken. In this photo, the lid
had already broken and I was using another lid that although also
broken, could be pieced together and held tightly on that teapot.

I can not really think of a time I did not like tea. All my life I have loved it, just as all my life I loved harps and hoped one day to own one so that I could learn to play it beautifully.

But it was not really until I was nine years old that I began to really drink tea. It all started when my dad brought home a box of Irish breakfast tea with him after going shopping. I might as well add here that that single box of Irish breakfast tea pretty much changed my life. In other words, I started drinking tea all day, every day. It has become a life essential to me. Something that if I could live without, would be rather difficult by now for me to live without. Now I do drink other tea besides Irish breakfast, but that particular tea will always hold a special place in my heart. I always have some of it on hand for in if I need a hearty, strong, warm, comforting tea.

Yes, I love pu-erhs. Yes, oolongs are just beautifully complex and tasty. Yes, those light Chinese greens are so light and lovely. Yes, those wonderful Japanese greens taste like the sea I wish were a bit closer to me. Yes those whites are so deliciously toasty and autumn-y. But what will always be special and close to my heart is the simple, comforting Irish breakfast tea. I have moved on, but I will always in a sense still be back where I started, discovering and re-discovering the joys of having a cup of tea always handy.

Note: I know this may seem like a praise of Irish breakfast tea, but really, if it had not been for that tea, I probably would not be drinking tea right now. And also, I probably would not be writing this right now, because a lot of my writing inspiration comes from tea.