"Surely your mother taught you how a lady drinks tea"

This quote, by Bess Truman, shows how integral tea and tea traditions can be to the mother-daughter relationship. In the case of me and my daughters, it's been more about "surely... how to MAKE tea" (maybe the 3 of us need some training on the drinking side!)

The best cup of tea i've had in a long, long time, i had in my older daughter's dorm room recently. Many of us have forgotten what the dorm environment can be, wrt garbage pickup, kitchen area (!) and, heaven forbid if you should need to use the bathoom (!!)... by now, you should be getting the picture, and maybe even a few sensory reminders of college dorm aromas have wafted into your mind.

I showed up at her school, tired as a dog from my trip, with business meetings earlier in the day. She offered that i could take a rest for a few hours while she went off and worked, before we went to dinner, which i gladly accepted. When 2 hours later it was time to get up, i was still tired, so she made me some tea - right in one of our own steeping mugs, of course. Some strong, black tea. We've dubbed "black tea for Russians" the blend of Bolder Breakfast teas minus the chocolate and the Puerh. Quite honestly, i don't know if it was the fact that at sea level you can get the boiling water hotter, or whether she's truly surpassed me in the art of steeping tea, but the mug of tea she served me was simply exquisite! As good as or better than in any tea room anywhere... and of course for me, the sweetest cup of tea ever :)