TEA on my phone

"IT IS better to be deprived of food for three days, than tea for one," so goes a popular Chinese saying. Line from "The wonders of tea" article of Sunstar Davao.

We all know how tea or cha/tsa/tsa-a/it-cha became a regular part of most people's daily meals. This is especially true here in Taiwan. Tea comes in different varieties and costs. It surprised us a lot to see a bag of tea (around 500grams) worth 10,000NTD and we're even told that there's more to that - a bag tea that can cost as much as 100,000NTD. Definitely, I won't buy either. Those amounts are really very very expensive I'd rather buy an electronic stuff that can't be dispensed that fast. But for sure, tea lovers won't mind that cost, don't you think?

The history of the origin of tea comes a long way back and I just learned today that there's still a debate about it's country of origin - China or India.

In our office, I see how people love tea and I see how our officemates brew their teas at any time of the day. Most of them prefer the loose tea (no bags) and they'd have the common glass container with a filter on top where the tea leaves are placed and soaked in the water. For others, they mix it in the water and let the leaves settle at the bottom. Some prefer it served hot while others do like them cold.

It also comes great with milk - it's called nay-cha ("nay" or "nai" means milk). This is a very popular drink here in Taiwan at any time of the year as they come hot or cold. They'd also use the tea to boil the eggs that makes the egg-white turn into brown. They're commonly sold in the stores - some with pungent smells ( but don't know where the smell comes from) and they're also served in our cafeteria during lunch or dinner.

Teabags are also used in spas where they are placed on the eyes for the sake of relaxation.

But here in Taiwan, one of the many other uses uses of tea (in a teabag, not the loose ones) that I learned is it's application as telephone "deodorant" if I may call it that way. Yes, it works pretty well. You see, they don't have rubbing alcohols here ( we only get them from the Pinoy stores) and they don't clean their handsets but you'd see a bag of tea in the area where the phone's mouthpiece is placed. I don't know if other nationalities do these but this really amazed me. If you'd ask if I have a teabag in my phone set, my answer is "YES, I do", not only in my office phone but also at home. I love the smell of tea each time I pick up the phone to answer a call or to ring somebody. Who would have thought of that? Now, if you want to try it, please note that it won't work to old modelled home phones like this. You may ask why and I'll tell you "isn't it obvious?"