Reading Tea Leaves

You will meet someone tall, dark and handsome.

(That's always true.  Who doesn't know someone who's tall, dark and handsome?  I didn't marry him though.)

You will marry someone strong.

(He's always surprising me by being strong.  It's handy when the yard needs tilling or a tub needs yanking out of the bathroom.)

You will marry someone who likes his drinks strong and dark.

(True. Beer, coffee and now tea.  This tea-leaf reader is onto something now.)

I was given this lovely container of loose tea leaves.  I don't actually like black tea, but Beth does and Yvon does a bit.  And I liked the packaging.  It's purdy.

And the little vacuum  packed bags of loose leaves were also nicely packaged.  But that's as far as I got towards actually trying the tea.  I just liked the packaging. 

But this weekend Yvon made some of it and thought I'd like to try it.  Yuck!  Very dark, very strong.  I like my teas fruity and weak.  (And that's not what you want a tea-leaf reader to say.  "You'll marry a man who's fruity and weak".)

When I cleaned out the teapot this morning, this is what I found. 

I've never seen whole tea leaves before.  I was wondering why I didn't need a strainer, but wasn't curious enough to look in the pot.  That's kind of cool. 

From the mound of leaves on the plate though, I now know that these little vacuum-packed bags hold a lot, and next time we need to try it with less than a full bag, or use a much bigger pot.  Less strong and dark for me.