Pots & Pots of Tea for 50¢ a Month

  Thats POTS, not cups. If you’re like me, tea and coffee are a big deal in the house. I mean, you can scrimp on so many things but a nice cup of tea at the right time of day, or good morning joe, are kinda sacred. Used to be I would kill for a big package of Barry’s Irish Tea and stalk the aisles of many stores to find someplace that carried it regularly. I like the green box blend, even though the gold box blend is supposed to be better. But it’s like eight dollars for fifty tea bags, and who can afford that now?  So I began to check out buying loose tea by the pound, or half pound in my case. As it happens, my daughter had given me a nice heart shaped tea strainer, and we already have assorted pots, so equipment wise I was set. So far, I’m immensely pleased with three tea purchases. The first was a bag of tea, one pound, that I bought in a Turkish market in a strip mall, for two dollars. I don’t know the name because I can’t read Turkish. But it was the tea that was almost sold out among all the tea in the market, so I figured it was a best seller and what the heck. It’s great – strong with a slight hint of smoke, but very slight, like you almost wouldn’t notice. Next, at a local, mostly organic market I found that they carried loose tea in their bulk section. Organic to boot! It was eight dollars a pound and I bought half a pound of Golden Assam, and half a pound of Earl Grey. Fabulous, both of them! A word on amounts. Loose tea swells up to triple it’s  bulk. In my three cup pot, I only need three quarters of a teaspoon of tea to make a strong, fragrant brew. Let it steep at least five minutes. Just leave it be, people! Get used to doing without tea bags, and you have amazing tea for pennies a cup every month and it’s even better quality tea than you used to drink. (Unless you were drinking Barry’s, of course.) Imagine that. Pretty damn cool.