Tea, Coffee, & Things

So, I stopped by Teavana yesterday and picked up around $135 worth of tea. Walking out I realized several things about this purchase:

1) This was the most I had ever spent, at one time, on tea.
2) I didn't have big issues with spending that much on a quality creature comfort.

Now, there may be better places to buy tea, more 'authentic' places to buy tea, and perhaps things better than tea to spend one's money on. But the key element for me is the idea of enjoying some Thing at its best. There is something about enjoying the long process from seed to leaf, from picking to dried leaf, from cup to stomach and ensuring that the little nuances are allowed to speak of themselves along the whole process that is very important to being a person of peace, to understanding and becoming a part of the beauty around you.

I think this is the case for two reasons:

1) by paying attention to the little things the nature or what makes a thing that thing can come to the fore, and
2) the love & conscious intent of the actors along the way can be felt, bonding human to human.

The phrase "it's the thought that counts" is so often misused.