Teaholic not quite anonymous

I would have labeled it Teavana, but then you'd think I was discussing the store.

Last night I went out to Wegmans for coffee night with the girls. We are so funny. Most of our brought our own drinks. Wegman's coffee bar tea selection is horrible (7 teas, most of them caffeinated and pretty basic) so I brought my own tea. I can't drink caffeine that time of night. It was a ton of fun as usual. I was the first one to break up the party, but I had shopping to do! I went shopping for TEA!

Let's start off by saying that Matt really wanted me to get on Mighty Leaf or Adagio and buy some tea for valentine's day. I was running out of herbal tea. I had some decaf green tea left, and loose herbal teas (but even those weren't very much). I liked the idea, but I didn't want to pay shipping and really, I didn't want all the same brand of tea this time around. That's when I remembered that Wegmans has a truly wonderful tea selection and since I was going there anyway for coffee night I would just browse on through afterward.

Browse I did....and did......and did............ and did. WOW. Wow-wa-wow-wa-wowsers! I was in tea heaven. Wegmans has a full 1/4 of an aisle (in a very large store, that's huge) with one whole side from floor to ceiling covered in teas. I've NEVER seen a tea selection like it--NEVER EVER. Most of the time grocery stores carry 4/6 of an aisle with coffee, 1/6 with tea and 1/6 in hot chocolate. There's never really enough to choose from. But again, I'm still in shock at what I found at Wegmans. It is truly tea heaven.

In the end, I wound up coming home with 340 bags of herbal tea, 17 boxes of it! There was one lone caffeinated one I just couldn't pass up so I bought that one, too. I bought tea from two brands I've never tried. I did buy some tea that I have tried in the past and loved, but for the most part, I haven't had the majority of this in the house for quite some time. I was like a kid in the candy store (or a teaholic in the tea aisle)... eying it all up, taking my time picking it out, comparing two or three. I didn't even go for the most expensive teas (top shelf) since I will save that kind of money for the caffeinated tea which I still have enough of for a while.

I bought all tea bags. Loose tea is great and I make it inside of my Ingenuitea. However, in the evenings since I'm in the ground floor of our house I use our cup at a time coffee maker to make tea instead since I'm just adding hot water. My ingenuitea doesn't fit under the coffee maker, so I need to use regular mugs which isn't a big deal except with loose tea. Sure, I can use my empty tea bags and fill it with loose tea, but eh, it's a hassle. Having bagged tea in the basement is just easier. That said, I did buy four boxes of Celestial Seasonings tea and they irk me because they aren't individually wrapped, just bagged. They need to get with the program!

One day, when I'm out of tea again, I will need to make another Wegman's run to look at their tea goods selection as well. I didn't take the time to eye it up last night, but they seem to have pretty neat tea pots, cups, other items, strainers, etc. So... I may have to make another stop and look at that. It's not that I NEED any more of that, but it sure it is fun to look at!

So what did I buy!? Here's the list! (You should have seen me showing these to Matt last night. I was giddy like a school girl!)

Pretty basic:
Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime
Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice
Celestial Seasonings Tention Tamer

Bigelow Decaf. Spiced Chai
Bigelow Mint Medley
Bigelow Decaf. Constant Comment (always a favorite)

Twinnings Herbal revive (with black currants, ginseng and tahitian vanilla)
Twinnings Citrus Spice sunset

Wissotzky Ginseng Marvels
Wissotzky Cinnamon Magic

Zhena's Gypsy Tea Lemon Rooibos (with Lavender as well)
Zhena's Gypsy Tea Red Lavender (roobios and lavender)

Revolution Honeybush Caramel Tea

Eastern Shore Tea Company Burgundy Cherry Tea
Eastern Shore Tea Company Peach Melba (Peach, Vanilla and Raspberry)
Eastern Shore Tea Company Ginger Pear
Eastern Shore Tea Company Victorian Rose

The random caffeinated tea:
Celestial Seasonings Honey Vanilla White Tea Chai (Sounds DELICIOUS)

So there is my tea haulage. I had a ton of fun shopping for it. I also bought a few bottles of red wine and my other addiction lately--Jelly Belly Cinnamon Lollipops. Of course I picked up more diet root beer and tootsie rolls.

Today Maddy and I had class. Matt, Maddy and I ran out this morning to go vote in the primaries but the school we vote at was just starting session so it was insane there. We turned around and went home. Maddy had her art class today. We made another necklace which she loves to do, used glue, paint and scissors. The kid was just thrilled. She wasn't in the mood to play after class though, so we left instead. We stopped back at our polling place and we voted (she received her sticker, too). On the way out I did an exit survey and my goodness it was long and we were cold!!! But we were soon on our way home.

She had a meager lunch (not that I didn't try...grumble, grumble) she went down for a nap and here I am...trying all my new teas!

Tea of the day: 2 cups of Oolong tea this morning, I just had a Eastern Shore Tea company Burgandy Cherry tea (very good) and now I'm having a fully caffeinated Celestial Seasonings Vanilla White Chai.