In my quest to write more, I’ve decided to revive the art of snail mail. There’s nothing quite so wonderful as opening my mailbox and finding a letter from a friend inside. And honestly, sometimes nothing feels quite as good as using a pen or pencil and putting thought to paper. Sometimes a computer just doesn’t cut it! And yes, I recognize the irony of this statement on a blog.

So, I’ve put pen to paper, thrown in a tea bag (literally), added a stamp, and started a tea exchange with two of my best friends from college. What is a tea exchange? Well, if you have a tea bag and a tea-loving friend with a mailbox, you can start a tea exchange. Each month we choose a tea that we enjoy, write a good old-fashioned letter letting the others know why we like that tea, put the letter and the tea bag in an envelope, and the tea exchange is well underway.

My next letters go out in the mail this week.

A trick to this whole thing is that you really need to love tea, and believe me, all three of us do. I didn’t realize what a tea snob I had become until I was out with co-workers one day, and we started talking about this most amazing beverage. When I rattled off my opinion of the best brands to buy when considering a yummy Earl Grey, I was met with blank stares, and it occurred to me that I had crossed some kind of line from casual drinker to blossoming tea snob.

Lucky for me, my friends from college can appreciate the snobbery, and we keep each other’s taste buds happy with a new flavor of tea each month. It has turned out to be a great way to try new teas, and as I said before, who doesn’t love getting letters from friends in the mail?

I also feel that I’m ahead of the game when it comes to loving tea. While coffee is still the more popular drink in America, tea is on the move to the head of the line. I learned this while at a tea tasting (yes, I do that, too).

And of course, I don’t have to send tea through the mail to revive the art of snail mail. I could just send the letter (and sometimes I do), but honestly, which is better – reading a letter or reading a letter while sipping on a yummy cup of tea?

And I’ll leave you with this – a fun infographic on tea and coffee. I suppose you could do a coffee exchange instead, but I don’t see coffee grounds going through the mail quite as easily as a tea bag (unless you wanted to cause a panic in the mail industry).

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