I must have caused my Grandma a cup of embarrassment. Welcome to my first tea bag story. The only way I knew tealeaves was through sachets that our factory makes. Therefore, the only way I knew how to use tealeaves, was by boiling them with milk and water and then sieving it.
When I was somewhere in class six, Grandma took me with her to church, which was being held at the Parish, in town. You can guess the excitement of wearing my fit and flare Sunday best dress and white pam shoes as we called them. Moreover, I was going to be carried by a car. Ooh, it was my best day. Plus, Mom wasn’t coming along to give me a stern look or a pinch for losing attention in church? Hey, you can say I was feeling, heavenly.
When mass was ended, Grandma took us to the café. It was just getting better and better. Or so I thought. Grandma asked what we would eat. Out of excitement, I shouted, “chips and sausage” smiling foolishly. Before you judge, please I was just a kid and chips or sausages were not available in our village. So yeah, I wanted chips (or as they are known, French-fries) and sausage.
After eating, Grandma ordered tea for us. Now here is where the tables turned. They brought nylon tea (white tea) and a tea bag. I remember checking out the little white bag with curiosity. Grandma was a little distracted and before she knew it, I had pierced my tea bag and dumped the tealeaves in my nylon tea.
With my cup full of swiming tealeaves, I asked grandma, “Grandma, aren’t they going to give us a sieve?”
Grandma looked at my cup of tea, and asked, “Tabby, what have you done?”
“I have put the tea leaves in the white tea”, I answered excitedly feeling like a champion.
“No, no, you just had to dip the tea bag and the tea would soak it in,” Grandma answered.
How I wished at that moment I could rewind time. But, Grandma saved the day and asked the lady serving us to sieve my tea for me.
I was wishing to go home and tell my mom about the excitement of the trip to town, but you can bet I never did because of the tea bag incident.
Now every time I use a tea bag, I always go back to that incident.
Thank you for walking with me through my first tea bag🙂.
The image is mine taken with my android phone.