pittsburghtea (original) (raw)

Good afternoon! I'm sure you're all enjoying this glorious 71 degree day.

What can I tell you about myself? Well...let's just say that I'm over 50, have been married for 38 years, to a man who was first my friend, and part of my extended family. We have two adult daughters, who for some reason, known only to them, refuse to have any contact with us, even though they live just five minutes away by car. Whatever, girls! My husband loves coffee, but me? I couldn't drink the stuff even if I could dump in a gallon of milk and a pound of sugar! Yucko! I've been a tea lover since I was a teen, when tea, quite literally kept me alive. Sometime around my eighteenth birthday I was diagnosed with an esophageal stricture, which prevented a great deal of anything that I ate or drank from getting to my stomach. Instead, it would stay trapped in my esophagus, causing horrible pressure, until I managed to throw it back up! Some days absolutely nothing would go down, and I'd go to bed longing desperately for water, and a few crumbs of food in my belly. Tea, in those days, was my salvation. I could, even on bad days, manage to hold down hot tea. So, I brewed up, loaded it with sugar, or honey, just for the calories, and drank up. This went on until 1995, when I had particularly bad episode and ended up in the emergency room. Afterward, I had bypass surgery, which cured the problem forever. But, for me, good, freshly brewed, loose leaf tea, remains my true love!

At the top of my list of favorites, is a good black tea, preferably, with a bit of fresh or dried fruit, or a touch of mint. Adagio.com's black tea with Peach is my favorite of these. Next on the list, is a good, Asian green. Indian green just doesn't do it for me. Nor does the white teas. I just can't seem to brew white tea strong enough to have enough flavor! I love Oolong, and Chai, the African varieties, and the Arabic teas are also excellent, and I keep a supply of those in my closet along with the others I've mentioned. I also enjoy a good Roobios tea. Roobios is especially nice with fruit, like peach, apple, and blackberry.

Last of all, I love the herbal teas, so long as they're not medicinal-tasting. Of these, I hate Cammomile!Don't know why really. I just don't like the taste of it, and can only tolerate the herb when it's blended and concealed with stronger flavorings. I love the herbal fruit blends. Adagio's "Berry Blast" is a fantastic summer treat, when used to make iced tea!

I love a traditional Earl Grey, the peppery teas, peppermint, and spearmint teas, and many, many more. I like the display teas (some call them flower teas), those that open and uncurl in my cup to reveal a gorgeous, blooming flower. These are expensive, so I don't have them very often. I loathe Jasmine teas! For me, they just taste too much like perfume with sugar added!

About my location. I live west of Pittsburgh, in Carnegie. There aren't any tea rooms, or tea cafe's in our area. Well, there is this little WiFi bistro on Washington Ave., near our mortgage office, that does serve some very nice teas. I can sip some tea, and surf the Internet at the same time, but I don't care too much for the corporate types that frequent the cafe.And I do enjoy the freshly brewed teas at Barnes & Nobel, so I go there of ten. As for traveling, and meeting up with folks from this group, I just don't know. I'm disabled and use a scooter to get around when I leave my home, so that could be a real problem.

Current Location: United States, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh

Current Mood: bouncy

Current Music: The Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven

22 December 2008 @ 11:09 pm

Name: Adam

Location in Pittsburgh: Squirrel Hill

Favorite kinds of tea and why: I've been loving the Rooibos lately, and I always like a good green. I grew up on Turkish Black Tea, as my parents lived in Turkey for a few years before I was born and picked up the habit, which they passed on to me. I still love the Turkish, but I don't drink it often because I've been dropping off the Caffeine-Train lately. Most often, I'll make something green, often a gunpowder of some kind.

Do you frequent any cafes or tea rooms? If so, which ones?: I drink the TAZO at Starbucks all the time, simply because I work near one and the bus puts me there early enough to sit in the SB. I love, love, love Te Cafe in Sq. Hill and am starting to make it a habit on the way home. Kiva Han on Craig St in Oakland is a place I enjoy, although I've never actually had tea there...I'm sure it is, but I don't even recall seeing tea on their menu?

Do you collect any sort of tea items? (boxes of tea, teacups, etc): Bodum teapots are the most AWESOME things ever. I'm also a fan of all the little tetsubin and yixing (sp?) pots, but I couldn't say I collect them. If I had a lot more money, I likely would.

Do you enjoy subcultures involving tea-related meet-ups?(steampunk, EGL, etc): Wouldn't say "no," but can't claim "yes."

Interested in group afternoon tea sessions?: I like kibbitzing and/or kvetching, and I like tea. If it's in Sq. Hill or on a major bus line, I'd be interested.

How did you find this community?: posting in Pittsburgh's LJ group

18 December 2008 @ 10:52 am

18 December 2008 @ 09:09 am

Name: J

Location in Pittsburgh: North Oakland (yep, right in the city)

Favorite kinds of tea and why: I'm partial to highly oxidized oolongs from Taiwan, young pu-erhs, and blueberry rooibos.

Do you frequent any cafes or tea rooms? If so, which ones?: The only one I've visited in town was Te Cafe in Squirrel Hill. It was nice, but didn't have a wide selection of the teas I like.

Do you collect any sort of tea items? (boxes of tea, teacups, etc): I collect tea and tea tins - I have a cupboard full of them!

Interested in group afternoon tea sessions?: Yes! Any time to get together with tea drinkers is fun!

How did you find this community?: a friend sent me the link!

18 December 2008 @ 06:05 am

Name: Mary

Location in Pittsburgh: About 30 miles north, just inside Butler county.

Favorite kinds of tea and why: My absolute favorite is Twinings Prince of Wales, followed closely by Earl Grey. I just stocked up on Stash White Christmas, it's the best peppermint tea I've found yet.

Do you collect any sort of tea items? (boxes of tea, teacups, etc): I have several colors of Fiesta teacups and saucers, although I generally use my coffee mugs because they are bigger. And, I'm finally getting a teapot for Christmas! I emailed my dad and asked for a stainless steel teapot that whistles, and he replied, "Only if you'll teach it the words later."

Interested in group afternoon tea sessions?: Sounds like a good time.

How did you find this community?: Through the Pittsburgh LJ community page.

17 December 2008 @ 07:09 pm

'Allo, all. Chances are, a lot of the folks who join this community probably already know me, but if not, here's the vitals:

Name: Derek C. F. Pegritz--normally known only as Pegritz, though I will occasionally respond to my first name.

Location in Pittsburgh: Actually, I live about an hour south of Pittsburgh, just outside of Uniontown. But I'm often in the Pittsburgh area, as I know quite a lot of folks in town since I lived there in the early 2000s.

Favorite kinds of tea and why: any and all forms of white tea, because were it not for the vast amount of white tea I consume, I would probably be dead.

No lie. I am far from healthy, but I have not been ill, in the sense of suffering from any sort of viral or bacterial infection, in nearly two and a half years. Prior to 2006, every few months I would find my rickety body invaded by all manner of nasty animalcules, and lived my life under the constant threat of everything from sinus infections to the dreaded bronchitis...which I once had for seven months (from October 2005 to May 2006). After seven months of hacking up my lungs, I said, "FUCK THIS SHIT," and began seeking out any means of strengthening my immune system (which was about as effective as the French military at the time). I tried everything from weird Chinese decoctions made of roots that no one but the most desperate would consider drinking to all manner of modern nostrums and snake medicine. Hell, I even surrounded my bed with cinnamon-scented candles in the hope of blocking the ill humours with aromatherapy.

Yeah...I was out of my mind at the time. Until I discovered the undeniable wonder of Snow Buds White Tea at the 64-C Coffee Shop in Squirrel Hill. I'd heard that white tea was rich in antioxidants, which were supposed to be Good For You in one way or another. Having been a tea fan since childhood (even at the age of seven I used to love to brew up cups of plain' ol Lipton tea, chug 'em down, and go wonderfully berzerk with all the caffeine), I've been a big tea drinker for years...yet somehow never really knew about white tea until 2006, when I saw the Snow Buds tea on the menu and figured, "Hey, that stuff's supposed to make you feel good, so let's try it."

Between that and occasional doses of Zicam--a true miracle drug if ever there was one--I haven't weathered anything worse than periodic allergy attacks in over two years. Seriously, I drink so much white tea it's funny I don't sweat it. Between the glorious caffeine and the feeling of sheer exuberance that any form of light, but potent, white tea summons up in me, I guzzle it down like it's the ichor of Dionysius himself. It's one of the few things (aside from music, Flight of the Conchords, and weird fiction) that makes it possible for me to get through life without feeling like I've been cursed to some utter reprobate hell.

Do you frequent any cafes or tea rooms? If so, which ones?: The 64-C, the Beehive. Occasionally a Starbucks if I have absolutely no other choice. I haven't been getting out much lately, but my house is a tea room in and of itself, so....

Do you collect any sort of tea items? (boxes of tea, teacups, etc): Oddly enough--consider I'm a rabid collector of damnear anything--I don't. Antique medical equipment? Transhumanist sci-fi novels and collections? Old New Wave albums on vinyl and/or cassette tape? H. P. Lovecraft memorabilia and horror collectibles? Yes, to all....But as to tea-related items, no--I'm too busy buying up huge boxes of tea to consume in order to prolong my unnatural life.

Do you enjoy subcultures involving tea-related meet-ups?(steampunk, EGL, etc): Without a bloody doubt. I'm currently re-reading The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling for...ohhh, the 90th time, and working on a novel of my own concerning the birth of an Internet-like "Common Telegraphy Network" in late Victorian London.

Interested in group afternoon tea sessions?: Sure! If they're on the weekends, at least. Damn job....

How did you find this community?: I think I saw it in pghgoth or something. *Shrug*

If you want, post a picture of yourself and a tea-related activity.( Me.Collapse )

Current Location: HPL Laboratories of Pennsylvania Fayette Campus

Current Mood: awake

Current Music: The BBC Radiophonic Workshop, "Tamariu"