I keep 17 different types of loose tea in my cabinet. This is a serious emerging food trend. When I attended the Fancy Food Show in New York last year, tea, tea drinks, tea-infused foods, and the like where the most common new product.

Tea has a multitude of health benefits and a wide range of interesting flavors that coffee could never hope to achieve.

I keep a few white and green teas for the evening, black and mate teas for the morning, and some oolong and rubios for spicy dinner meals.

I have an amazing tea maker that is all computerized. It brews each type of tea correctly, with the right water temperature, correct steep times, and makes a perfect few cups each time. It's made by Zarafina.

Tea can be a very delicate thing. The different types of teas are brewed at different water temperatures for different amounts of time. The first time I tried to brew green tea with microwaved water, and let it sit as long as black tea, I got a cup of liquid grass.

Tea can become a hobby, education, and passion with the infinite varieties, kind of like wine.