In addition to my career-oriented interests (IA, IxD, UX, UCD, and usability—and also marketing, visual design, industrial design, human factors, business analysis, business strategy, and all the other UX-related stuff I study and read about), I'm very passionate about loose-leaf hot tea and wine, particularly offbeat ones.
Tea
I drink hot tea every day, always brewed fresh from loose leaves. I like all types of tea, but I like white, green, and oolong teas best—I still enjoy black teas, herbals (especially rooibos), and pu-erh regularly, though. My absolute favorites teas are jade oolong (or other Anxi-style rolled oolongs), silver needle, white Assam, and nearly any high-elevation Chinese green tea.
I love trying out new brewing vessels and methods, although to date my favorite is the IngenuiTea by Adagio. It's easy, efficient, and always generates conversation when I demonstrate it—it's an excellent example of design, in my opinion. I also enjoy brewing with a gaiwan, a Japanese cast iron teapot, and occasionally a clear glass English-style teapot.
Wine
I've been interested in wine since early 2005, and I've built up a medium-sized wine cellar (~100 bottles). I like most wines from most areas, but I particularly like finding uncommon and offbeat types and regions. My favorite varietals include Pinotage, red Zinfandel, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Albariño, Torrontés, and dry Riesling; my favorite regions include Portugal, New Zealand, Argentina, Italy, the Loire and Rhone Valleys, and Oregon and Washington state.
I love sharing new things with friends and family, and I host informal wine tastings whenever I can. I believe strongly in taking an open-minded, non-snobbish approach to wine: drink whatever you like, but to discover what you like you have to try different things. It irks me when people judge others' personal tastes, or when someone judges a wine category (or category of categories) based on just one or two samples. =)
I also like:
Disc golf, castles, cats, turtles and tortoises, anime, strange/exotic fruits and vegetables, vegetarian cooking, optical illusions, webcomics, instrumental music, medieval Japanese history, philosophy, streams and brooks, mossy rocks, and pulled pork barbecue with mustard-based sauce.