a mad tea party

Contrary to any connotation, this has nothing to do with people waving misspelled signs or Alice in Wonderland, though the later is one of the greatest books of all time, despite Carroll's creepy old man tendencies.

I tend to think of myself as too cynical for marketers, being an almost X-er with parents who didn't buy me Fruit By The Foot for my lunchbox, and always finding commercials annoying even as a kid.

Still, I am a sucker for absurd packaging, terrible graphic design, and general weirdness of most kinds and find my shopping experiences at Marc's and the ethnic grocery stores in my neighborhood fabulous for such things.

While I was still living with the parents in Parma, I'd take my little sister and her BFF up to Drug Mart to rent a movie and then we'd go over to "Fancy Food" to buy exotic imported goods like birch tree juice, tiny little fruity hard candies from Poland, and "Royal Tea" (get it? Rimshot, please). Because nothing says awesome like tea depicting the last Tsar and Tsarina and translated instructions that involve samovars, tea cozies, and the suggestion that before boiling, "the water should first be clear."



According to the blurb on Amazon.com:

Russian Royal Tea evokes the bygone era of leisurely afternoons in the Russian countryside drinking tea with people close to you. Tea drinking in Russia has a very long history and tea from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) has always been the most popular. Russian Royal Tea is pure Ceylon loose tea packed in Sri Lanka. Net Weight: 8.8 oz.

Closer to where I live now, I can get Namibian beer, Nigerian movies, voodoo candles with saints that look a little sketchy, yucca roots, Coca-Cola in glass bottles with real sugar and Inca Cola in the Peruvian food section.



I don't remember this one from PSR...


Asiatown, around the corner, sells "Baby Tea," and the Vietnamese market down the street from me sells this concoction as well.



It appeals to my snarky side and love of non-genericness. Conspicuous consumption, indeed.