Sunday 31 May 2009

tea and books and comfort

Lately I've been thinking about comfort zones a bit and things that make us want to step out of them. And also things that generally make us feel uncomfortable and how we react to them. In yoga we're encouraged to stay with a pose that we want to flee from (for me that's backbends) because it helps us to work with the uncomfortable things life throws at us.

At work some of us have found ourselves reading the same books at the moment (completely coincidental) and have been heatedly discussing our reactions to them. Books like 'The Slap' and 'Revolutionary Road'. These 2 in particular create strong reactions in people. I loved reading RR even though the characters are quite sad (no, I have not seen the film yet). I'm fascinated with the idea of people having to come to grips with 'being ordinary' when they imagined their lives would be so much more. I like that it pushed me out of my comfort zone. My colleagues at work found RR hard to read, almost painful, and really did not like it. I liked it so much I bought Richard Yates's collected short stories yesterday. I wished he'd written more while he was alive.

I know this is a bit of a stretch but drinking different tea can push me out of my comfort zone at times. You know how you have your favourites and stepping away from them to try new ones can be bit like hard work. Last week I bought some Rose Black Tea mostly because of that pretty tin (pic above). I'd never heard of this tea before. When I got home I made a pot and tasted it. It's a bit rosey but not bad. I googled it and sure enough there are rose petals or rose hips in there with black tea. Even though I bought it for the tin I am going to drink the tea too. I'm not going to be the girl who always drinks green tea and earl grey. No way. But I will draw the line at lapsang souchong.

10 comments:

  1. Great post. I love getting tips on books. RR sounds like my kinda book. At the moment I'm reading The Divided Heart by Rachel Power, very interesting read. It explores the difficulties of art and motherhood. Although not a mother, I find I can still relate to the difficulties of actually finding time to create.

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  2. wow - that tea sounds great. maybe when i head down to minh phat...i love those tins so much. and so interesting about revolutionary road. i have read it not long ago as well - amazing book. but i can see how it would be uncomfortable/challenging reading in many ways. i guess that is what his brilliance is! i will now search out the collected stoires - thankyou!

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  3. Lovely tin!! I got some different types of tea when I went to China mostly for the pretty tins but I haven't heared of Rose Black Tea either.
    And yes I tend to stick to the same tea and same brand mainly because I feel I've finally found "the one". I enjoy new ones when people give me as "omiyage" but even if I like it it's hard to get more when i finish which is so zannen!

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  4. This strikes a chord :-) The other day in a cafe I asked for a pot of tea and they gave me Twinings Prince of Wales. I loved it, sort of smoky. (I'm quite fussy, I like Lan Choo and green tea and I've been known to take my own tea bags when I travel!).

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  5. i saw the movie Revolutionary Road. it was pretty rivetting stuff but i heard that the book is so much better so i think i'll get myself a copy.
    that tea tin is really beautiful!

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  6. I have been looking everywhere for tea tins like that. I'm in the US..Chicago, actually...where I would think I might be able to find them, to no avail. Is there a brand name on your tea?
    Thank you for referencing the book Revolutionary Road. I'm adding it to my list.

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  7. Arggh, I haven't read either but would like to. Damn book buying resolution.
    The tin is beautiful. I can see why you were swayed.

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  8. Jan - I bought the tin (with tea) in an Asian supermarket here in Melbourne. It has no brand name that I can see but there are Chinese characters on the label that essentailly translate to 'rose black tea'. Sorry, I know that's not much help.

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  9. I know what you mean about Lapsong Souchong, it's one of the few teas I really don't like. I felt compelled to make a comment seeing as I am also a girl who drinks both Earl Grey and Green tea, I recently came back from Japan and I've bought back some gorgeous green with cherry blossom, yum:D
    Lovely blog, I'll keep reading:)

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