teaoretically

Andrzej Karpiński 1994   i generally don't recommend going cheap on the hobby. you loose more than just your money. you get bad tea, you might risk your health, you waste your time and you don't really gain any valuable experience nor do you learn anything about what makes tea good.   the sooner you accept that you have to pay real money for the good stuff, the sooner you will start making progress in my opinion. good tea is never cheap. but beware! that does not mean in reverse that everything that is expensive is also good. western faced vendors do mark up their tea at very high rates sometimes. sometimes you are the end of a long chain of resellers and might not realise it. i've seen markups as high as 1000%. definately do your research! what helps you accept the fate of an empty wallet is to calculate the price per session. if you are frugal - 4g in an adequate gaiwan can be more than enough for a good time. let's say the tea costs 0,75€/g - and you get good tea at ...

Edward Munch - The Scream, 1893   now after the realization that tea is more than just a drink, and now that the second chapter of our obsession has begun - fundamental issues and conflicts of identity arise. not only the identity of what is in front of us (the tea) but also how it interacts with ourselves and our ego. i want to pick up the last post's question: so if tea is more than just a drink - what else is there to it? i have already written about how one would have to try to understand tea at a more fundamental level than just the simple dimension of taste . but what else is there to it? why even bother? what's all the fuss about? i should say in the beginning that i don't think that i have figured it all out yet. it's a process, a trip, a journey and there is no hurry - it will unfold itself. on a superficial level tea can be many things for people. it can be an investment, just a drink, a social lubricant, tradition, or just something their ego feels grea...

Ingravidos levitaciòn by Angel J. Sanchez (ig: @angeljsanchez )     of course - for most connoisseurs of this incredible hot beverage, it is just that - a drink. some particularly strange characters, however, see it as a hobby. this makes an essential difference for the consumer. while for most it is merely a means to an end - be it for the caffeine kick or to simply quench the thirst - for the hobbyist it has intrinsic value. for them it is not just an object but a great subject - as they might tell you at every dinnerparty. however, there are only limited possibilities for communication between these two hostile groups. while there are indeed transitions between the groups, fundamental rifts remain. for some, it is incomprehensible how the f... one can develop such an obsessive relationship to a few leaves in hot water - for the other side, the hostility expresses itself in fundamental incomprehension how one could or want to understand such a complex thing only superficiall...