I set aside time to drink tea everyday for a month, here's what happened

I have been in search of ways to destress from, well, stress. I can't begin to tell you how many times I hear "get a hobby". I have a hobby. I have A LOT OF HOBBIES. I just have a hard time doing them because I can't relax enough to focus. I was on the way to class last month and suddenly remembered Tokyo mew mew, mint in particular. She would often be seen drinking tea while she was supposed to be working. While it was mostly used for comic relief and to emphasis her "heiress attitude", and wasn't supposed to be taken seriously. But then I was like...."Haha! but why not try it for myself?" So the challenge I gave myself was to drink tea everyday for a whole month. A DIFFERENT FLAVOR everyday for a whole month.

     To be honest, I felt weird to do this at first. I actually felt guilty for a moment. I mean "how dare I take time out of my day to drink a beverage?" (I purposely made that sound a bit ridiculous, but  I always feel like I HAVE TO BE DOING SOMETHING every minute of the day.) I started this personal challenge with chamomile in a paper cup. It doesn't scream fancy, but that wasn't really the point. As the days passed, I found myself calming down quicker and quicker. The more comfortable I felt the more my choice in cups changed. I used a paper cup for the first few days. Then I tried finding a little nook to enjoy my tea in peace. I tried a couple of places, but finally settled on a picnic table on the edge of a hiking trail.  (It was relatively close to the gardens where I do volunteer work) The next few days I used  and assortment of mugs, and teas. I have to say, Mint is always a favorite of mine, but I decided that a little change would be nice.  I even tried tea that was blue! I do admit that I had to protect the time I set aside for myself with a bit more vigor than I anticipated. I'm constantly busy, and working on side projects. I barely have time to think, so when I noticed people interrupting my tea time, well, I was none too happy about it. This challenge defiantly made me see how much I needed to take time for myself, and introduced me to a few new teas. (I leave a list of my absolute favorites down below.) I didn't notice drastic changes in my health. I knew the chances of me being dehydrated decreased, but it's not like one cup of tea can cure all of my aliments. on the other hand, I was introduced to a couple of places that sell loose leaf tea, and I'm excited to try them out. All in all, I would say this experiment turned out to be. a success. I drank a different tea for 30 days, and I learned a little about the ones I liked and disliked.






                                              Here are my favorite teas from this challenge:

• The republic of tea's pumpkin spice black tea
• Harney and sons' earl grey with bergamot 
• bonfire blend from adagio teas
• ginger twist blend from pet's coffee (it's great for relaxing because there's almost no caffeine in it)
•  citron  with honey from haioreum 
• 3:15 rose fruity milk tea (I believe SC is the name of the brand)
• tea forte's raspberry ganache (even though I usually go for teas that aren't as sweet, this one climbed it's way to the top of my heart. It's such a lovely flavor)
• tea forte's hanami (it won a silver in the 2018 tea championship, so I decided to give it a try. It did not disappoint. It's light, It's floral, it's fruity. It's like a hot cup of spring memories.