The tea you buy also needs to be processed, just like coffee. There are many different ways to process the tea leaf after it’s picked. Raw tea leaves are processed by oxidation and drying. Processing green tea only takes a day or two and is usually done through steam or gentle heat. When you place the processed leaves into a pot of hot water, the leaves unfold to reveal their full shape. You can guy your tea loose or in pre-packaged tea bags.

If you’ve ever been – or had – a little girl, you’ll know that she likes to have tea parties. I know I did! I would invite my brother to be my special guest, and we’d set the little table and set up the tea cups and all my dollies would be guests, too. My mother always wanted to have coffee and she’d buy and grind very special beans and make a little pot of coffee for herself. One day, we invited over our next door neighbors and had a very special tea and coffee party! They would sit and read the tea leaves in the bottom of their cup and tell me my fortune. I never really believed them, but they seemed to believe that tea leaf reading was a very big deal.