odd bits of ritual

[rmd]

it occurs to me that part of my leisurely morning ritual may seem odd to people.

first thing in the morning, or maybe even the night before if i'm clever, i put my preferred mug[1] and a teaspoon in the freezer.

see, i like to drink tea, and my big teapot holds three mug-fulls. the first mug-full is always too hot to drink right away, and i hate having to wait for it to cool down. so i chill the mug so that the tea cools off quickly. by the time i've finished that, the teapot has cooled a bit and i only have to wait a little while for the second mug of tea to be cool enough to drink. and the third is usually perfect for drinking right when pour it.

it used to be that the third was a bit too cool, but a good tea cozy for the teapot seems to have solved that problem. now i just need to find a good container that'll hold most of a kilogram of tea for storage. right now, i'm stuffing the foil sack of tea into a coffee-can type container for the bulk of the tea, and a smaller tin for my 'working stash'.

[1] my preferred mug holds (i think) about 14oz and it has an integral rubber coaster thingie on the bottom, which i love -- it keeps it from sliding

Comments

[penk.livejournal.com]

Mm, foibles. This is a great one :) I'm not quite that organized, but i admire your planning :)

As far as favorite mugs, at topaz_munro's secret santa gift excahnge about 5 years ago I got a no-slip ceramic travel mug, forest green, no logos on it or anything. It's been my favorite ever since.

Best picture I can find is this one (http://www.compet.com/traveler.gif), without the logos, and the mug is more cone-shaped. But I've never knocked it over or spilled it. Woot!

[skreeky]

You are a very clever girl.

[coraline]

good idea, though i'd worry that the thermal shock would break my mug :(
(i suppose that's not a big deal with insulated non-ceramic mugs...)

[lara68.livejournal.com]

that's not odd, it's clever. what kind of tea do you usually drink?

[jessicac.livejournal.com]

Tea canisters:
http://shopstashtea.com/400038.html

http://www.uptontea.com/shopcart/item.asp?from=catalog.asp&itemID=AT6&parent=Accessories%3ETeaware%3EStorage&category=Caddies%2C+Tins+and+Bags&sortMethod=0&categoryID=84

http://www.specialteas.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/mystore/acccanis.html?L+scstore+zsnq9832+1100894512

http://www.theteacaddy.com/detail.aspx?ID=987

[rmd.livejournal.com]

yeah, i was worried the first few times, but it doesn't seem to be a problem. i figure i pour boiling water into a room-temperature teapot, so less-than-boiling tea into a below-room-temperature mug shouldn't be too bad.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

ooh, thanks.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

upton tea's irish breakfast blend. this url (http://www.uptontea.com/shopcart/item.asp?from=catalog.asp&itemID=TB12&parent=Teas%3EMiscellaneous%3EBlends&category=Breakfast&sortMethod=0&categoryID=) should point you to it.

[wren13.livejournal.com]

Much more organized than me - I tend to stick the mug of hot tea in the fridge to cool, and find it still there when I get home
I'll have to try your trick myself.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i think i'll snag the one from specialteas -- it's large enough for vast quantities of tea.

mmmm. tea. :-)

thanks for the links!