Yes, I am a tea nerd.

My title should really be "nerd of many stripes", because when I find something I like, I totally geek out about it. I discovered loose-leaf tea several years ago, and I can't go back to tea bags.
This is what real tea looks like, in particular my favorite tea right now, Masala Chai from Adagio Teas.

This dried blend will expand to about 3-4 times its size when it's steeping. Do you know what's in tea bags? Leftovers. The bottom of the barrel. Powder. Comparing looseleaf tea to tea bag tea is like comparing filet mignon to hamburger, and not even good hamburger. See this picture below? This is what real tea leaves look like. This is Golden Monkey, a Chinese black tea.


Although I am a tea nerd, I'm not a tea snob. I take most of my teas with milk and sugar, I like flavored blends, and frankly I can't tell the difference between the high end black teas, other than the fact that they all taste so much better than anything that comes in a bag.