Thanks to everyone who submitted blog entries for The Tea Table’s blog contest.\u00a0 We had fun reading them, and it appeared you had fun writing them as well.\u00a0 We decided the best entry was by Anne who wrote a clever post relating tea with dating.\u00a0 Congratulations to Anne, who wins our Quarterly Tea of the Month Club!\u00a0 Here is Anne’s post in its entirety:<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been asked out for coffee more than a few times. I\u2019ve said no. No one ever thinks to ask me out for tea.<\/span><\/p>\n But if someone asked me out to tea, I would go, and this is how I think things would happen. We\u2019d stand in line a bit awkwardly, squinting at the menu. He\u2019d say something safe, and I would reply. I\u2019ve already scrolled down in the browser of my brain to my selection: Loose Leaf Tea (hot).<\/span><\/p>\n Their selection is around the corner from the register, three long tiers of tins the entire length of the counter. Theres is an impressive selection\u2014it\u2019s the only coffee shop in town with this many tea choices. I\u2019ve long made up my mind, but the question boiling and steeping in me is what sort of tea will he choose? Which is he, really?<\/span><\/p>\n Will he be a stiff black tea, an Assam or a Ceylon? Strong and full of energy, deep and mature. The warmth on chilly cold mornings, the strength to get up and face the day, with a dry sense of humor. He\u2019ll come on a little too strongly sometimes, too abrasively, but he\u2019d be exactly what I would need to keep awake and focused on reality.<\/span><\/p>\n Or perhaps he\u2019d reach for an Asian green tea, a Sencha, Lung Ching, or perhaps some Gunpowder Tea. Mellow he\u2019d be, clean and clear and just a touch exotic. Cool and contemplative, though he turns a bit bitter when over-steeped in his own thoughts. He\u2019d be quiet but able to hold his own in any sort of argument. He\u2019d adapt to almost anything, but he\u2019d always retain a clear sense of his foreignness\u2014and be proud of it.<\/span><\/p>\n He could go for Rooibos, the Red Bush tea. It\u2019d be a cup of a different sort, sweeter and gentler, and a little nutty at times. He\u2019d match up with lots of other flavors, very versatile and able to function at all times in all temperatures. His patience would be extreme\u2014no matter how long or tightly he\u2019d be stretched, he\u2019d keep on coming with the same sweet taste and crazy sense of humor.<\/span><\/p>\n I have to admit, I\u2019d be a bit surprised if he were an Herbal. He\u2019d be extremely unassuming, letting others take the spotlight while he quietly helps where he can. His mood might change with the seasons, he\u2019d be very in tune with nature. Most of all though, he\u2019d be calming and steadying, a rock to cling to amidst the jitters from everyone else and the stress of life. He\u2019d be of no real help to get me going in the mornings, but he\u2019d be there for me in the evenings to help me relax and unwind.<\/span><\/p>\n Or an Oolong, ooooh. Suave and sophisticated, a gentleman with a high and complex taste to him. He\u2019d be expensive, more so than me even, and for a while I\u2019d probably think he\u2019d be out of my league. He\u2019d be temperamental, and tricky to brew up properly\u2014it\u2019d take me a few times before I\u2019d be able to unlock his guarded heart and get into the true flavor underneath. He\u2019d be harsh and unforgiving about mistakes, but quite vulnerable once his dapper front is stripped away. He\u2019d need me, but he\u2019d have a hard time letting me know.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019d watch his eyes travel over all the choices slowly, taking them all in. Oh, which will it be? His hand lifts a bit, hovers here, hovers there. He opens a few and peers inside, bemusedly. Choose, I\u2019m dying to get to know you! His brow crunches a bit, in thought. Then he turns back to me.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhere\u2019re the Lipton teabags?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n And I\u2019d soon be back home after struggling through the rest of our polite conversation, trying to wash the taste of tea-flavored disillusions out of my mouth.<\/span><\/p>\n We were also struck by another entry completely different from Anne’s.\u00a0 It was the very brief poetic entry by Kristina, reproduced here:<\/p>\n I\u2019m waiting in the South, impatient for Fall to arrive. Tea is never as pleasant as when I sip it bundled up next to a chilly open window with a cat on each sill, watching the leaves begin to turn.<\/span><\/p>\n We really enjoyed the Haiku-like quality of this post, and our manager, John, was especially vocal that we alter our original plan for one winner and give Kristina an Honorable Mention prize.\u00a0\u00a0 So congratulations to Kristina, who has received a gift certificate for our store, The Tea Table<\/a>.\u00a0 I think I may print this little poem and tack it on my bulletin board by my desk!<\/p>\n Thank you everyone, and we’ll do this again some time!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thanks to everyone who submitted blog entries for The Tea Table’s blog contest.\u00a0 We had fun reading them, and it appeared you had fun writing them as well.\u00a0 We decided the best entry was by Anne who wrote a clever post relating tea with dating.\u00a0 Congratulations to Anne, who wins our Quarterly Tea of the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theteatable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theteatable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theteatable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theteatable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theteatable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theteatable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theteatable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theteatable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theteatable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}