Ummmmm, so. Back in… er… 2011, I gave you a tour of my ridiculous tea cabinet at home and embarrassed myself by telling you that I sometimes perch on the kitchen island and gaze lovingly at my tea (and R’s tea) in the evenings. (I don’t really do that anymore. It’s still good entertainment but it’s not really conducive to sprinting up the stairs every ten minutes to soothe a fussy infant.) And then I told you to “stay tuned,” because Part II was coming up and I was going to show you around my work stash. And then I… didn’t.
Oops. Sorry about that. Only eighteen months later, if you haven’t tuned away, here’s my current work stash. It’s different from what it was in 2011 when I promised this post, obviously, since some new friends have come in and I’ve worked my way through other tins. So, here’s what I see now when I open my top desk drawer:
That’s actually pretty reasonable for me. It’s not overflowing or blocking my access to my stapler or anything. Here are a few detailed views:
Bunch o’ bags. Twinings English Breakfast tea, gigantic box purchased while pregnant (before hot beverages became odious to me and I had to give up caffeine anyway on account o’ the IUGR); Tazo Om for afternoon zen; Tazo Wild Sweet Orange (a gift from sis-in-law G some years ago, and I loved it so I just kept buying it); Republic of Tea Good Hope Vanilla, also purchased while pregnant because rooibos was supposed to be good for lil baking peanuts (again, before hot beverages became odious to me and rooibos tea in particular killed my soul).
Some of my beloved loose tea makes an appearance, finally! We’ve got Ginger Black and Lavender Earl Grey from Old Town Coffee, Tea & Spice in Alexandria (that store is like a rabbit hole, you fall in and you ain’t coming out again); Celestial Seasonings fruit tea sampler purchased because my Target stopped carrying True Blueberry and this was the only way I could scratch the itch; Wissotsky rosehip and hibiscus tea, which is the closest thing I can get here to the rosehip and hibiscus tea from the German store in Buffalo; Celestial Seasonings Tummy Mint (I’m a litigator, I need this stuff); and Guyaki Yerba Mate in both the canister and the yellow-and-green bag.
Finally, my good stuff. I don’t keep much really nice tea at work because I like to save my best stuff to enjoy with a book at home. But I have a little bit on hand for nice morning treats. Kusmi Strawberry Green, Vanilla Bourbon and decaf Earl Grey, all purchased in NYC while preggers, but after the hot beverage aversion had started to wear off a bit; Teaism sweetened matcha powder for mixing into green tea (I’ll probably take this home and use it for smoothies); Teaism Chai, Golden Monkey, Jasmine and World Peace – some of my favorites. I have to have World Peace whenever I need it, so I keep a bag at home and a bag at work. It’s that good.
So, there you go, my promised work stash tour, only a year and a half later. I’ve made a concerted effort not to bring much tea into work until I drink down some of what I have, so this is really not too ridiculous of a stash. Certainly better than my home stash, which is just silly.
Are you a tea drinker? Do you have a giant stash, or are you a reasonable, responsible adult about your tea drinking?
covered in flour 
You know I also have a huge tea stash – though my work stash is quite a bit smaller than yours. Still, I have to have some on hand. Tea obsessives unite!
It certainly would be unpleasant to want a cuppa and not have any! I think it’s prudent to keep some on hand. 🙂
Ha ha! My desk drawer is similar, except that it’s, um, not as neat as yours! I drink tea all day long. I remember when someone gave us a 10 cup coffee maker for our wedding (we hadn’t pre-registered for it), and I thought, “Hmmm. That’s someone who doesn’t know us very well!” My husband has picked up coffee since that time (oh, the life of a trial lawyer), but I’m still 100% tea.
I do too! I mix it up between caffeine in the morning and decaf/herbal in the afternoon, but I’m constantly sipping on some hot beverage. Except when I was pregnant and, irony of all ironies, had an aversion to tea. Worst. Aversion. Ever.
At my last job, I had a co-worker who used a coffee maker to brew tea. I thought it was genius! She just put the filters in like you would to brew coffee and then added water and a few teaspoons of loose tea and voila! it was perfect every time. Of course, once it’s been used for coffee, it’s no good for tea anymore, and I’m wedded to my little Travette teapot anyway.
That IS the worst aversion ever! I ended up developing an aversion to red and yellow bell peppers (which are usually my favorites in salad) and a love for green peppers (which I previously disliked). As for tea (decaf), I was lucky enough to enjoy it throughout my pregnancies.
That’s so funny – I like red and yellow peppers fine, but green peppers have always been my favorite veg. I had the strangest cravings and aversions. Aversions to hot beverages and anything with a breaded coating; cravings for fat-free dairy (skim milk, fat-free yogurt, etc.). So weird. I also craved fruit, but that’s not really weird, heh.
I have recently become addicted to Bigelow’s Pomegranate black tea. Similar to cranberry juice, but not so tart. So, so good.
Mmmmm, I’m going to have to look for that. Thanks for the recommendation!
How nice! I have a huge stash, too, and why not? It isn’t as bad as keeping a lot of stuff that doesn’t use up. Though my work stash is a bit smaller and tea-bags only, we always share a pot of tea between several co-workers.
I have the habit of opening all my tea tins and sniffing at them, and meanwhile my kids do it, too!
A friend of mine is crazy for rosehip and hibiscus tea, too. What brand did you have from the German store?
I love to smell my tea tins, too. And how I miss the ritual of tea with co-workers. At my last job there were a few of us who would gather for a pot of tea every morning, but I’m the only tea fiend in my current workplace. I keep trying to convert people, but to no avail…
I’m not sure what the brand was of hibiscus and rosehip tea. My in-laws live in Buffalo and my mother-in-law buys this tea from the German store, and I love it, but I’ve never seen it around here (I’d recognize the box) so I haven’t retained the name. It’s a green and white box, if that helps…
I just wondered if it was a brand I buy. But they all come in red boxes here.
I’ll try to find out from my mother-in-law, and let you know! It’s possible that the packaging is different in the States, but that it’s still the same brand. Whatever it is, it’s delicious.
I keep a stash of leaf (loose) teas at my desk at work along with a french coffee press to brew herbals in the afternoons. You have to adjust for water temperature because not all teas brew best at the same temperature which the hot water tap on the coffee machine is set at.
So true that the water temperature makes a big difference! Sometimes I have to take what I can get when it comes to the office water heater… but I try to control it as best I can.
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