Tea

Tea is my personal obsession and ritual. While some people predict the future by reading tea leaves, I predict how the day is going to go by whether or not I manage to wake up in time to make myself tea that day. If I manage to make myself tea: good day. If I make tea for myself and a couple of others, excellent day. No tea: the day sucks.

Another nice thing about tea is that it can be the most boring subject imaginable. If I don't want to talk to someone, I will cheerfully yammer on about tea for hours. This also happens whenever I really want to say something important-sounding and can't think of anything, however.

Of course, in order to make tea properly, one must possess the necessary equipment, the required knowledge of tea and its nature, and a good source of tea. My favorite book about tea is A Decent Cup of Tea by Malachy McCormick. Another good one is The Book of Tea and Herbs, published by The Republic of Tea.