I remember drinking tea with my friend, Sheri.This was back in the early '80's, and Celestial Seasonings was still relatively new to us, and we bought new tea if we liked the picture on the box, or if the quote impressed us. We didn't care if we actually liked the tea inside. We would save the empty boxes and pile them against our walls, arranging and rearranging them into pleasing patterns. The tea made us feel artsy and unique and creative, which is a lot to ask of a little tea bag. I never did like the Red Berry Zinger all that much, but it had a cool box, so I'd just put a lot of honey into the cup and drink it anyway.
This past summer I managed to take a tour of the Celestial Tea factory in Boulder, Colorado. It was more fun than I expected! But I realized as I watched the endless parade of neat and tidy little tea boxes on the assembly line that something like "artsy" and "unique" and "creative" can be used as marketing tools, and that they worked on me for a long time. I don't buy tea anymore unless I think I'll like the flavour. If I want to look at the boxes, I go to the store and look at them.
4 comments:
Aha! I found you! And I believe I am the first person to comment on your blog. I feel special! I actually found your blog a couple days ago, but there was no way to comment. I've been enjoying your memories, Paula... I hope that's okay. I love the one about the guy giving you a foot massage in the middle of the night. Sounds like something out of an indie film... actually a lot of your stories do. Maybe we should make a movie of your life!
WOW! I didn't know you had a blog!! Dang, daryl beat me to it. But I'm persona numbero 2 to comment! I'm adding you to my colony. ok bye.
Hello dear Paula...I hope that it's ok that i have stumbled onto your blog. I'm so excited that you have one and I have thus far enjoyed reading your memories. I know what you mean about being suckered into things that 'appear' artsy, but it's just a marketing scheme to get our money.
I agree with Daryl though...we should make an indie movie of your life...we could call it something obscure and 'artsy' to sucker people out of their money.
Don't worry...I won't add you to my list unless you want me to.
Hey! You're standing in front of the perfectly pear tea picture. I have that tea, not because of the artsy box (though, been there done that) but because I thought it was the plain white tea. I can't believe you've been posting here since 2002. That's crazy. Now that you've been on others blogs....you've been discovered. This is really a beautiful sight, Paula. Will you continue posting now that you've been discovered? (P.S. I miss you, your family and care group like CRAZY)
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