heavenly tea

The taste of honey peach black tea with pearls is still in my mouth and I'm hoping it stays there for the rest of the day. Molly and I just returned for our trip to Zen Cha Tea Salon, and it is finally time to tell you about my love for this place. I was never a big tea drinker unless heavily sweetened and forced into me, but in February 2007 Molly took me to Zen Cha in the short north and from then on I cannot get enough. This tea is literally heaven in a cup. The quaint salon offers over 100 different kinds of tea. Although I have only had about 5 flavors (I stick to what I love) I just know everything is amazing. The 25 minute drive is well worth this tea and thank goodness there isn't one in North Carolina, because I would be there everyday and have a very large Zen debt.

Molly and I have been there countless times and usually have a great incident happen along the way. But my favorite Zen story was senior year in high school. Living in Dublin, Ohio with a supper attendant from Northern Michigan, didn't get us many snow days, but one day it was just too cold to go to school. Yes, that's right, we had a "cold day." Obviously the best way to miss school, cause the roads are clear which means you can go wherever, whenever so we were thrilled. On this freezing cold day, Zen Cha was calling our name. We bundled up and drove the 25 minute drive (on the highway and down the back roads) to get our tea. Everything was clear and it was no big deal.

After about two and a half hours of girl talk, amazing tea and warming up from the brisk wind our server came up to us asking if we had looked out the window. Totally oblivious of what was going on, the car was practically buried under thick, white snow. Downtown had turned into a white wonderland, every inch covered in snow and we were so far from home. After a good 15 minutes of scraping the car, Molly and I thought we might as well stick around downtown and do something fun, thinking the roads would clear up. We headed to Pierceology, the local piercing salon. I wasn't looking for anything, but molly sure was. As a fresh eighteen year old, she got her belly button pierced! That wasn't the only pain of the day. The attempt to get home, during rush hour, on horrible roads took almost 2 1/2 hours. Our little "travel anywhere cold day" turned out to be quite an adventure, but it is one I will never forget.

And of course the Zen Cha made all the driving worth it! Love reliving those good memories with good friends! Trying to stay warm on this cold Ohio day!

xoxo