Steepster Select #008 Giveaway

Usually just the sight of the loose tea leaves and brewing apparatus is enough to peak most people’s interest!

Honestly? I don’t.

I offer it along with other choices of beverage that I’ve got. It’s not for me to decide what they should drink, and if they don’t like it or therefore aren’t interested, that’s fine with me.

If I visited someone who was really super-interested in coffee and thought the best thing in the world would be to convert me to gourmet coffee, I would frankly feel slightly annoyed.

If they are interested and/or have questions, I will do my best, but I wouldn’t want to force it on them.

Just because I’m a tea drinker doesn’t mean the rest of the world necessarily have to be as well. Besides, I rather like having an interest that is mine.

I usually take them to a store so they can smell some. That way they can see that it isn’t just stale bags of orange pekoe that have been sitting in grandma’s cupboard for years!

I haven’t tried put too much effort into convincing my friends to drink tea; all I’ve done is offer them interesting ones when they’re at my place. If they aren’t interested in trying one, I let it go. I dislike forcing things upon other people :) So really, all I’m mostly doing is introducing friends who already are willing to drink tea to trying new, loose leaf teas instead of blah tea bags. (I do talk incessantly about how much I’m enjoying my new loose leaf tea obsession though, so that may spark interest eventually!)

My friends got into tea at the same time as I did, but I have accidentally tempted many people at work just by brewing loose tea throughout the work day, and using my clear mug to enjoy it in. This way I have found a couple tea lovers at work, and I love having someone to chat about it with!

Much like Angrboda, I offer it to visitors or anyone else with an inquiring mind, but I’m pretty okay with friends and family who prefer coffee. If I know someone is already a fan of bagged tea I might offer up samples of some loose ones I think they might enjoy, but otherwise I leave them be.

I take it to work with me in my travel mug and also keep a supply in my office. I also share with my friends on Twitter and Facebook what tea I am drinking.

I have won several friends over by making a pot of black rose (black tea, infused with rose petals, dried papaya & mango, and cornflowers). It smells and looks AMAZING, and after they tasted it,they were hooked!

However, I come across some strange people who don’t like hot beverages!! I have now armed myself with iced tea in the fridge when we have guests. It’s the same tea as above, and I think I have another convert on my hands :) I will use this technique a lot more!

Like Angrboda, I am not an evangelical tea drinker. I am happy to answer questions, give tips and suggest samples, but I don’t feel called to convert the world to tea.
Tea was a light I saw in the darkness of other beverages.
I came to it on my own secret journey, I think they should as well…

If I have a friend or relative who shows any interest, I tell them what I have, tell them a little bit about it, and let them pick one that they’d like to try. For friends who don’t live somewhere where that’s possible, I try to give them good links to places where they can buy inexpensive samples of nice, loose-leaf tea.

I’ve converted several people to tea in the past by inviting them to tea tasting events or by impressing them with some loose leaf tea brewing in a clear tumbler during a meeting. If that doesn’t get them, the great smell or look of me enjoying my tea will do them in. _