Leopold Tea Tube

I'm my own worst enemy. There, I said it. Of my many faults (and I have many), one of them is that I mull things over too much before I make a purchase. You could say this is a good trait. In a lot of ways it is. But it always seems to rear its ugly head at the most inopportune times. The usual outcome is that I go back and the item is gone, or I've waited too long and I'm out of time. Case in point: overseas on vacation. While shopping around Schiphol airport before my flight (that place is so huge, it’s practically a city in itself), I spotted this neat thingy by Leopold called a tea tube.

Not this Leopold -


This Leopold -


It looks and sounds like it'd be illegal in 23 states. You use the top part to scoop in some loose tea, then plunk the apparatus into hot water. “Great gadget” I thought, with serious considerations of buying it. However, inopportune-time-brain kicked in and I began to convince myself that I could easily find it in the US. Plus, there were free chocolate and cheese samples all over the store to further cloud my judgement. How could I resist free chocolate and cheese I ask you?! On the plane, I couldn’t get this gadget off my mind, which was the first indication that I should have bought it when I had the chance. So, when I returned home, I set out finding this little guy and hit every single brick wall I could possibly hit in locating it. Last week, I found it on Ebay from a UK seller. Yeah!!

So I have recieved it, tried it and loved it. And given my luck, I just know it's a matter of time before I see it in the stores here.