tea is more than just a drink or why alice followed the rabbit

levitación
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 superficially.

tea is more than just a drink

but to realise its potential one needs to understand tea on a deeper level. you have to experience it. however, to experience it you have to go beyond the narrow scope of "taste" as a wise man explained:

[...] "I think focusing too much on the flavour of a tea is almost missing the point.  From observations and discussions with other tea drinkers, I think after a while, we all move, slowly, towards a deeper and more subtle appreciation of tea, and that means that we start moving away from just looking at what the tea taste like, and put more emphasis on what the tea feels like. Good (and usually expensive) teas invariably feel good in a way that inferior teas do not.  They don’t always taste all that different, however."

        

 

   and this ...

                                        .... is just the beginning of the rabbit hole

 






______

Image: Aman_Daharwal, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

heinlein's cup of tea

Image
  Eser Gündüz | Retro-futurism   since we are all voyagers through space and time exploring the contents within - let's employ one of the great science fiction writers of the previous century to illustrate an important concept.    i'm talking about the concept of " to grok something " which was created and explained by robert a. heinlein in the 1961 sci-fi novel "stranger in a strange land". the book is about the man michael smith who was raised on mars and how he understands and integrates the culture on earth and terrestrial concepts.  without going too much into the details of the book i'd like to explore what "to grok" means and supply several definitions by various sources: a) to understand intuitively or by empathy, to establish rapport with. (oxford dict.) b) to understand (something) intuitively, to know (something) without having to think intellectually ( wiktionary ) c) when you grok something, you just get it — in other words, you...
Read more

the song of tea

Image
Zoro Mettini | Die Euphonie in Beethovens "Neunter"     Song of Tea by Lu Tung The first cup moistens the throat; The second shatters all feelings of solitude; The third cup purifies the digestion, re-opening the five thousand volumes I’ve studied and bringing them to mind afresh; The fourth induces perspiration, evaporating all of life’s trials and tribulations; With the fifth cup, the body sharpens, crisp; The sixth cup is the first step on the road to enlightenment; And the seventh cup sits steaming — it needn’t be drunk, as one is lifted to the abode of the immortals. as written previously in my posts #1 and #2 tea can inspire a lot of things in people. poetry, philosophy, a feeling of company...  however if one wants to hear - you yourself need to shut up first.  it is vital to first take a back seat in the experience and take your ego out of it. understand what the tea needs. let the tea guide you rather than brewing it how you would like it to behave. there ...
Read more

on value

Image
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 ...
Read more