Tea is one of those things that everybody buys in large quantities and nobody uses. Almost all college apartments have tea stockpiles. We have enough in our apartment for my roommates and I to have at least two boxes apiece: fruit tea, mint tea, herbal tea, chamomile tea, chai tea, green tea, white tea, black tea, rainbow tea.

It was all I could do when I was in Beijing over the summer to keep myself from buying pounds and pounds of tea. I mean, Chinese tea: that’s premium tea, man! They have tea that comes in balls and when you put a ball in hot water, it blooms into a flower. They have loose tea that our group leader filled a giant plastic trash bag with to take home to her mother.

The thing is, nobody has much use for tea here, Americans don’t drink it that much, but everybody has some, because it’s such a nice useless thing to have. Tea is pretty, it can be colorful, it almost always smells very nice. It’s easily earth-friendly, if you want to go after some organic tea. It’s like potpourri, only multifunctional. And you only really remember that you have it when you’re sick. My favorite is peppermint tea, which somehow manages to be hot and cold at the same time.

There are things that make you feel like you’re doing something just by buying them: planners, calendars, personal digital assistants; notebooks, writing implements; running shoes, sports bathing suits, and various workout gear; dieting foods, lowfat foods; watches; organizers, binders, notecards. Tea is one of those things. You feel like you’re making a step towards a more wholesome, plant-influenced, delicately scented you. Tea feels healthy. It feels like it’s improving your life and the way you live it just by sitting there, undisturbed, in your cupboard. If you ever have a guest over, it gives you so much more to offer them: instead of just saying “Do you want something to drink? We have water,” you’re empowered to say, “Do you want something to drink? There’s water, or I could whip up some tea – it would only take a few minutes – I have mango, strawberry, apple spice, orange spice, Earl Grey, breakfast, fair trade...”

Likely they’ll just stick with the water, but it makes you feel like a damn good host.