Hello everyone, and welcome to Speaking with Joy, a podcast to fill your soul, challenge your mind,

and make you brave. I'm your host, Joy Clarkson, and an evangelist for all things good, true, and beautiful.

So make yourself a cup of tea, find somewhere comfortable, and let's dive in to this week's episode. There are a few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.

Henry James, portrait of a lady. Well, hello everybody and welcome back to Speaking with Joy.

You are joining me on yet another one of my

episodes, which I have been referring to as the Escape Cast. So those are episodes specifically

geared to bringing you good, true, beautiful, and wholesome distraction in this very weird time

that we find ourselves living through. Today, I'm very excited to record this episode.

I've had it in my mind for a little while now. All About Tea, which is one of my very

favorite subjects all in the world. And this was actually inspired by a conversation I had

with a few Twitter friends over Easter. Also, let it never be said that you cannot make real

friends on the internet.

I was chatting with a few friends and one of them made the most shocking statement that she didn't like tea.

She's made this statement to me before.

Hannah Long, if you were listening, I still find it shocking.

And I find it shocking every time because tea for me is one of the great little pleasures of life. I would genuinely

be distraught, aggrieved, outraged if the pleasure and the ritual of tea were taken away

from me. But I'm also kind of a picky tea drinker. So for me, it's not just like I like any kind of tea.

It's, I almost think that bad tea is worse, is a worse offense than no tea at all. And,

and at the behest of Haley Stewart, who I always want to call Haley Carrots, because that is her

name on various social media, who was on the show a few episodes ago.

I thought it might be fun to make an episode all about tea, about why I love it so much,

...