Turning up my nose at a tea-bag. Or not. Tea Ave's Tie Kwan Yin Oolong proposes to confuse me.

I said I wouldn't get tea-snobby. And I reckon I don't consider it tea-snobby that I now disdain tea-bags. But it looks as if I won't have to worry about that because apparently tea-bags can hold good tea. Most of you know this I bet. I didn't. To me tea-bags are something I find at the bottom of my satchel that have been there for years, never even considered an option, something I did because my mum does it, throws Morning Breakfast or Earl Grey tea-bags in her purse. With me it was 'Horny Goat-weed' or 'Holy Basil'. But I never used them, even before discovering the world of good teas.
But enough about me.
So, I just opened a small sample from Tea Ave, which surprised me by unveiling its contents as a tea-bag. I huffed and sniffed at it a bit, just to see how it felt to be a bit of a tea-snob, said, 'What the hell' and put the bag into my pre-warmed Jian Shui oolong pot. I even let it sit in the pot for almost three minutes! That felt weird but I like to follow instructions. The package is an astounding color of blue which should have been my hint the contents were not loose tea, Tea Ave's loose-tea samples have been in gold 'foil', and instructions for brewing were on the back. There were directions for gaiwan, tea-bag, teapot and cold-brew.
Anyhoo. it's not bad. It's not amazing, how can anything not done Gongfu style really show its stuff but for a tea-bag it is very nice. I could see myself actually taking a tea bag in my purse with me and actually asking the waiter for hot water and then using it.
Like my mom does with Twinings and Lipton. Oh my god, I'm turning into my mother. Damnit!

However, I will do it with a far finer quality of tea-bags should I go that route which I am sure I inevitably will to some degree. That being said, I will not become a tea-bag fan, I have my travel gaiwan, and I am sticking to the best kind of tea there is stylistically, the Gongfu Way Of Tea.
I'm off now to brew this bag two more times, to see if can give me a little more than this initial steep. I am tempted to break the tea leaves out of their thin-veiled jail cell and let them roam free in the pot!