Global Tea Time

In my world tour, I decided I might as well talk about tea in the United States. We have an international reputation for serving REALLY BAD tea. At times, I have to agree. I remember once telling someone from Kenya that they should not think of American tea and Kenyan tea as the same thing. That is how I managed to drink the swill here after having experienced Kenyan tea. That was also before I discovered my favorite tea shop that sells Kenyan tea. At this point, I have no intention of buying "instant" tea. I remember stocking glass jars of it when I worked night stock at a grocery store for a couple of summers in college. They were really light weight, and contained kind of a funny brown powder. This was a way to make tea quick and convenient to make. Tea was brewed in a factory, then dried into a powder. You know how there's a big difference between fresh milk, and powdered milk? That's how I feel about fresh tea versus powdered tea. Something about the drying pro...

Today we travel to Canada . Given their more northerly position, it's only appropriate that we visit them on a cold, snowy day. Canada is second in size to Russia, and occupies the northern 2/5 of the North American continent. It is also one of the most sparsely populated countries with large expanses of forests and natural terrain. The majority of the population lives within 185 miles of the boarder (presumably southern boarder since the Yukon territory boarders Alaska, and I think that is the least densely populated province). Canada contains some familiar things, like the northern part of the Appalachian mountains. I don't know that they are known for deep poverty in Canada like they are here. There are also the Canadian Rockies which I have flown over. The southernmost point of Canada is Middle Island in lake Erie. I had to do a little more research on this island since I've never heard of it. It's about half way between Kelley's island (US), and Pelee island...

So what information could I find about the  Netherlands ? The root for "Holland" apparently means wooded land, and "Netherlands" means low lying land. They are one of the world's most densely populated countries with close to 90% of the population living in urban areas. While the population tends to be older, Amsterdam is a center of youth culture. As usual, I went to YouTube and typed in, "how to make tea in the Netherlands". I get an odd assortment of videos about Holland, and Amsterdam. Ah, yes, a country known by several names, and most known for its capital city. I paused for a moment to wonder if I would find anything about tea here. After all, Amsterdam is known for all forms of vice being legal. I actually had a layover in the Amsterdam airport when I was going to Kenya (ah, yes, KLM, Royal Dutch Airlines). Our red eye flight from Nairobi to Amsterdam arrived early, and we had to circle over the city until 6 AM when the noise ordinance was li...

Today we travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina . These countries are memorable for those of us who remember the 1990's, and the news coverage of the war and ethnic cleansing in this region. These countries are situated in the western Balkan peninsula, and Bosnia is the larger portion of the country while Herzegovina is now the south/southwest portion of the country. This area has been occupied by many different forces over history - the Ottomans, Austria-Hungary. They became part of an independent federation after WWI, and became part of Yugoslavia after WWII. In 1992, there was a vote for independence, and one of the ethnic groups openly opposed this independence, thus sparking a war.  In November of 1995, the Dayton Accords negotiated a peace agreement making a state with 2 autonomous entities governing the country. Each has its own president and and legislature. The central institutions of the government rotate to presidents of a different ethnic group every 8 months. It is a mount...