Take Back the Tea Party!

I was joking about this 3 months ago, that I was going to write my rant against the Tea Party Movement and how much it's pissing me off as a tea blogger. Ever try to find a picture to go along with your article on black tea and have to wade through pages and pages of political rallies??? it has now become epidemic and I am only one of many frustrated tea bloggers and retailers.

I remember last year when I threw a tea party at a local Vintage store, how I had gotten a few people asking if this was political...and I rolled my eyes at a movement that had just started and I thought would die out soon. A year later and and we still have politics to contend with.

AND what really boils my brew is that their vantage point of "us vs everyone who is not us and is thus not the real America" works to divide this country....and for me and many other Camellia Sinensis loving folk, we work to bring people TOGETHER.

That's right...I've said it here before and even created a Blog Label under the word "CommuniTEA" because that's one of the many wonderful things about this small hot beverage is its ability to get people to sit down and talk with each other. Drinking tea TOGETHER is a show of civility and a gesture of love. It is custom in many countries upon entering someone's house or a meeting of business that tea is served first. A peaceful tradition America might want to look into adopting....but then, as a tea lover, i am biased to think that daily interactions over a tea pot would improve the quality of life for all those involved.

I am however not the only dealing with this issue. recently my tea friend, Tony Gebely of Chicago Tea Garden has found marketing tea in Chicago to be an unwelcome mash-up of tea and politics. And was quoted in an article in the Chicago Tribune which reported on the same sentiment as I am now.... and again I read the same frustration of tea purveyors vs political rallies in the Boston Herarld this past Sunday.

An interesting side note is that coffee became America's beverage of choice after the the showy Boston Tea Party. It takes a long time for things to change, which is why this political movement is now the 2nd thing to come along to tarnish the reputation (and sales of) tea.

I say we TAKE BACK THE TEA PARTY!
Celebrate everything with tea parties.
Get together with friends and family and Drink Your Tea with Pride!

Fall Madly in Love with tea -- and throw a party!