> Still, having found this group, I am curious about
> what sparked the tea interest in others.

My interest started back in the late 60s early 70s when drinking
Celestial Seasonings tea was the "hip" thing to do in the wannabe hippy
crowd. I remember one blend called "Morning Thunder" where the box
said "This blend has the power of a thousand charging buffalos, so
when your get'em up won't, Morning Thunder will). After my hippy
phase, I joined the Navy and traveled to Italy where I migrated to
coffee concoctions (usually black espresso variants) for 2 decades. My
love for tea was rekindled when I made a trip to Holland one year, I
was traveling a lot back then installing factory automation software,
and I found good tea was easier to prepare than good coffee when doing
the Road Warrior thing. Then back in the mid 90s some eccentric
academic types in Chapel Hill recommended a cooked Pu'er mini-tuocha
and the rest is history......

Mike
http:/www.pu-erh.net