From the Department of Oh Holy Crap That Is Disgusting:
I had a travel mug from one of the various Corporate Campaigns of Gung Ho Insanity from my previous job. I actually have several, but only one of those mugs is relevant at the moment. This mug, being capacious and minty-green, is an excellent mug for tea, however one day a few months ago, I filled it up with hot water and a Lapsang Souchong teabag, drank about three-fourths of the mugful of tea, then promptly forgot about the tea. The mug sat, shoved to the corner of my cubicle desktop, under the overhanging counter, alone and forgotten, until several weeks later, when a teeming quagmire of mold had taken residence. I was properly grossed out, and intended to go wash the mug out during my break, but forgot, and ignored the mug once again for another good long while. I was reminded of the existence of my mug after reading this Mimi Smartypants entry (I’ve been reading through her archives since I am a fairly recent visitor to her extremely funny and thought provoking journal. Go, go and read Mimi Smartypants, she is way, way funnier than I am)
Anyway, back to the disgusting tea story. I estimate this quarter-full travel-mug of Lapsang has been sitting for about 4-5 months, and I peeked into it with justifiable slovenly trepidation, only to find that instead of a fanged fungus-monster puffing clouds of mold spores at me, there was just a powder of black crumbs and a decidedly chastened, dried-out teabag. I am taking this mug home for intensive bleaching therapy, and probably won’t bring it back to work, since it is so easily forgotten and turned into a horrific science experiment.
By the way, Lapsang Souchong, sans mold, is my favorite tea on the planet.