About this blog: What's in your cup?

A blog about beverages... What this is all about and how it originated:


It all started out with my sister Eunice's suggestion that we hold a mandatory tea party every day throughout my stay back at home for winter break. While shopping for the party one night, I had a major dilemma with my usual indecisive self. I spent a good ten minutes trying to choose among the following: white pomegranate-mango, triple mint, vanilla chai, raspberry earl grey, Japanese green tea, etc.--who the heck knows the difference between English breakfast tea and Irish breakfast tea anyway? Is it the greedy tea companies' trick to put artificial additives to the same blend and then simply add fancy names and so-called "organic/natural" labels to convince customers that their products are genuine and distinguishable? I kept the questions in mind and finally decided on tulsi, aka. the "holy basil" (honestly, I had absolutely no clue what tulsi really was until I read the description on the box).


When we got home and brewed the newly purchased tulsi, Eunice came up with another brilliant idea--start a blog about different types of tea--so here I am. I critically pondered what to name my Blog and thought of a song from Rent the musical, "Seasons of Love," the lyrics of which goes like this: "Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes. How do you measure--measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee..." This  ultimately led to the title, "How do you measure a cup?"


Come to think of it, the songwriter was right--a cup has an arbitrary value and could mean a lot of things. One U.S. customary cup equals eight fluid ounces, an informal unit which most cookbooks suggest you to abide by. This measurement is dismissed by chemists--a cup of sulfuric acid certainly doesn't sound pretty at all. Cups can also come in different sizes. Starbucks categorizes into four, starting with eight ounces and increasing it by 4-ounce increment: short, tall, grande, and venti. But a single cup could contain something not particularly measurable yet unexpectedly meaningful--culture, history, families, friends, and many more.


My goal is to discover, learn and write about as many different beverages you could possibly expect in a "cup." They don't necessarily have to be extravagant or luxurious--that being said, yes, I consider Silk (soy milk) I smuggle from the dining hall completely appropriate to blog about. Though, I will focus heavily on tea, as it initiated the whole idea of creating this blog, and plus, hot caffeinated drinks are vital in college, especially during bone-chilling winter of New England. I invite you to partake in this project with me. I am not sure how long it would take me to try all the beverages in existence, but as long as I enjoy and learn something new in the process, I would be happy. Also, I can't guarantee how often I will be updating this blog. Any recommendations for cool places to check out would be very much appreciated, and if you have any questions or ideas for future posts, please contact me at firstjen@gmail.com. What's in your cup today?