Seeking Comfort

I get asked a lot how I come up with my content because, I mean, it's tea. Not quite the subject that could uphold a lengthy, exciting conversation, right? When I first started this out, I actually was a bit apprehensive about how I would sustain it. So I made a list of a few slightly cliche topics around tea that I wanted to share and had plans to post at a defined frequency on my platforms of choice but I quickly discovered that that is not for me. Glad I did as well.

I write from a point of observation and experience, heavily driven by emotion. How I manage to tie it in with tea is something that surprises me too, believe me. Being more aware of this now, I am extremely comfortable in my solitude. It's when I can really see the world around me, immerse myself in it, reflect upon it and truly connect with it. I've unknowingly done this my whole life, so I'm in constant conversation with my universe and even take it for granted. Something indescribable happens, however, when that conversation stops.

See, sometimes our lives are jutted into unfathomable situations. Some so good, we koala cling onto them, other so horrid we convince ourselves that what is real is really not. I've recently had an equal taste of both, so distinct and intense, none invalidating the other. So I stopped being present for a minute. Maybe more. Point is I stopped. Dealing with positive, joyous feelings is always welcome and wonderful. But when melancholy sets in, it can be hard to push it to the exit. You can try to ignore it, get "busy", avoid solitude, put on a sitcom, sleep longer but it somehow streams through little cracks, preparing to break you. I put on a facade of happiness during such times. It helps me get on with my day but the real reason is I honestly have overactive tear glands and don't need to be a walking waterfall!! Lucky for me, I'm a simple girl who finds comfort simply in tea.

I was wondering about this about an hour before I started writing this. Ever lost something, someone or were just generally feeling low and someone offered you tea? I sometimes do that to my friends when we're in a space that allows for it's preparation, but thinking back, this has been reciprocated with 'si, we get a drink?'. Real friends. Anyway, why, or how can tea be so comforting? It's something about temperature.

Tea is widely preferred and served hot, only in the past maybe two decades has intentional iced tea gained popularity. Emotions elicited from memories were found in a study to influence our physical experiences at present. In one experiment, researchers had two set of groups, one to reminisce on a positive social experience another on a negative. The latter group when asked to guess the room temperature averaged at 5 degrees less than the former. In a second experiment, rather than summoning a memory, they decided to recreate positive and negative social experiences through a ball tossing game and participants who were served the latter, preferred soup or a hot beverage over cold ones after the activity. In yet another study that took on a more somatic approach, the actual skin temperature of participants was taken during an experiment where one group was excluded during the ball tossing game and the other included. The excluded lot actually experienced a decrease in their finger temperatures. Both studies were exploring loneliness in relation to temperature but I think that melancholy easily accompanies and is sometimes synonymous with loneliness. So in the same way the studies concluded that warmth may be a remedy, I think that is the principle behind why hot beverages, and particularly for me, tea is a comfort when I am down.

Focusing on tea, its ingredients, caffeine and theanine are credited for its effects on our mood. An improved hedonic tone, happiness, calmness and contentment can be drawn from caffeine consumption. Theanine on the other hand works on reducing stress levels. Another aspect of tea being comforting to some is in the sensory tea experience. Listening to the water bubble, how it hits the cup as it fills up, the tear from pulling out the tea bag, watching it sink, the aroma, the colour of the liquor diffusing, mouth watering, hugging the hot cup, sipping, the warm sensation mapping your insides. Exquisite.

If you ever have a low moment, try grab a cup. It will warm you up, raise your spirits, if only for a moment. My melancholic wave has passed for now. Hope the next one is far off. I had really missed the embrace of my universe.

xx

The Ultimate Tea Girl

Sources:

-"Cold-blooded loneliness: social exclusion leads to lower skin temperatures." - Ijzerman, Gallucci M, Pouw WT, Weiβgerber SC, Van Doesum NJ, Williams KD.

-"Cold and lonely: does social exclusion literally feel cold?" - Zhong, Leonardelli.

-A lot of observation :-)