Why tea people love the Pacific Northwest

Sorry for the silence. I've moved! I'm in the Pacific Northwest. I hope my tea friends are having fun at the Northwest Tea Festival today. Crimson Lotus Tea, I need to meet you! Soon!

There's a moving pod full of necessary (not necessary) belongings to unload today, so I've stayed home this weekend in my new little Craftsman house.

Pittsburgh, you've been great. But now I'm ready to drink all the tea in Seattle.

Yes, Seattle is all about coffee. So why am I convinced that the Pacific Northwest is for tea drinkers?

Reason #1: Evergreens.

Feeling deep? Feeling moody? Of course you are. There are evergreens everywhere, your new dramatic sentinels. Tea people love green that stays green. These evergreens aren't tea plants, but I intend to stare them down every day. Over the rim of my tea cup.

 

Kitchens with farmhouse sinks are great, too. 

Reason #2: Shit grows here.

It was a sad day in Pittsburgh when I finally gave up on the iris bulbs I had planted in the cruel clay soil. Other lucky people managed to grow food in Pennsylvania, but after three years of waiting for those irises to bloom, I swore off gardening forever. Sadness no more! It rains here. Shit grows. I can pluck vegetables without paying tax on them (perhaps only paying tax on the seeds?).

 

 

Zucchini adventures.

 

What is this, chard or something?

Beer. People make beer here. This house's previous owners, did. What to do with these hops? Figure out how to make beer, that's what.

The Pacific Northwest has a strong kombucha following, too. Metronome Coffee serves kombucha on tap!

Woodinville, the "Napa of the Northwest," produces wines such as Chateau Ste. Michelle and beer from Redhook Brewery. Don't forget the amazing Elysian Brewing in Seattle. Costco was selling cases of Night Owl Pumpkin Ale in the $26.99 range up here! That price is unheard of in Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh, when a beer you like is available for sale, you RUN and get it, and then you hoard it. Pennsylvania state controls the sale of alcohol and that makes things very tricky for drink lovers.

Reason #3: All the coffee/tea shops!

Don't panic: chances are, you are only one mile or one block away from the closest Starbucks. In Honesdale, Pennsylvania, I was an hour away from Starbucks. But now, the height of culture is mine.

 

Self-explanatory Starbucks visit.

 

Cardamom Apple Rum Latte from Metronome Coffee

Victrola Coffee Roasters on Pike Street is sold at Metronome Coffee, so that's what I'm making in my French press these days. Because yes! In the misty mornings here, coffee just makes sense. I hadn't bought coffee for the house in half a year, then suddenly I need it. I can't explain it. It's just this place.

World Spice Merchants in Seattle is like a tea shop, but for spices. Each spice has 1 oz displayed in a glass jar for you to smell and get a sense of volume. Carry a pad and pencil with you and write down your order for the clerk to measure out. They sell tea, too.

Tea Ave, specializing in Taiwanese oolong, is north in Vancouver.

Crimson Lotus Tea in Seattle specializes in puerh. Which means I have a lot to learn from them. Which means I'm taking a drive north, soon.

 

Pacific Northwest, I love you.