Tea Anyone?

I stood over the shoulder of a coworker in the staff lounge during lunch the other day, curiously piecing together the mystery of what she was concocting.  She had a mug that she was stuffing with big, beautiful leaves.  I was certain the leaves were mint.  Water was on the stove, just barely reaching a boil.  After about twenty seconds (I'm not one for piecing together mysteries), I asked her what she was doing.  And can you believe it?  She was making mint tea.  Just a few sprigs of mint and a little hot water and voila!  Mint tea.Now, I'm not a total technology nut who is completely disconnected from the origins of culture.  I can plant a tree and make a pie crust by hand, enough said.  But it says something to me that I've never thought of simply steeping raw and unprocessed herbs in order to make a cup of tea.  After all, that is what our ancestors did.  Obviously, in my mind, tea is something that comes from the grocery store, and not the garden.  At what point in history does this happen to modern people?  At what point in history does man lose the root of place and function for a thing?  For me, food comes from the grocery store and not the farm.  Music comes from itunes instead of an instrument.  Flowers come from a florist, not a seed.

These modern times create modern people.  Silly, lost and lacking instinct - that's me, at least when it comes to making tea from scratch.  Awareness is the first step.  I am aware, and not before long I will be blogging, tweeting and instant messaging with the computer in one hand and an organic homemade cup of mint tea in the other.