Our meeting was by chance. On a first date where i took someone to a polish cafe/grocer, where a wall of teas lay, I asked them to choose a tea for me. I really wanted melissa tea. But they picked you, szałwia, because it had pretty purple flowers on the box and we didn't know it was sage.

At first, I thought I could never get to love you, as the way of the girl. Your sage - that's just a herb - it's not tea - it's herb water. I was right, but I was wrong.

I like to drink you with some honey. It is like a nice broth. It has a fullness, a satisfying warmth and roundness to it. Like pavlov's dog I find myself hankering for a cup some chance day every week.

Your 20 teabags have stretched far. At first, a sisyphusian struggle to get through them, or to rot in my tea cupboard amongst those many others teas I never touch, now you number in the single digits, and I savor each one to come.

Thank you szałwia