I recall sipping one evening with the owner of now-defunct Norbu Tea, a favorite vendor of mine back in the day. He preferred brewing Darjeeling using a pseudo-gong-fu method that broke my brain. Not my preferred method, but whoa, I'd never been more tea-buzzed in my life. Tea is really "to each their own," and I think it's one of the qualities that keeps it so democratic.
& to each their own applies to not just the tea, or the individual, but the brewing method, the season, the state of mind, etc etc - it really is all a one off, Ichigo ichie tea world out there amigos
“If you treat drinking tea as a way to ground yourself in the moment, it’s good to remember that expectations are illusory. The only real thing is the tea currently in your pot. Do you sour your sip with thoughts of what it could have been or focus on what it offers right now?”
This whole graph of wisdom talking. I’ve soured many a sip, and indeed thrown away many a tea I’m afraid to say, before I started to learn this lesson. Arguably my most expansive tuition of all: how many teas did I not enjoy for the expectations I heaped upon them?
I recall sipping one evening with the owner of now-defunct Norbu Tea, a favorite vendor of mine back in the day. He preferred brewing Darjeeling using a pseudo-gong-fu method that broke my brain. Not my preferred method, but whoa, I'd never been more tea-buzzed in my life. Tea is really "to each their own," and I think it's one of the qualities that keeps it so democratic.
& to each their own applies to not just the tea, or the individual, but the brewing method, the season, the state of mind, etc etc - it really is all a one off, Ichigo ichie tea world out there amigos
“If you treat drinking tea as a way to ground yourself in the moment, it’s good to remember that expectations are illusory. The only real thing is the tea currently in your pot. Do you sour your sip with thoughts of what it could have been or focus on what it offers right now?”
This whole graph of wisdom talking. I’ve soured many a sip, and indeed thrown away many a tea I’m afraid to say, before I started to learn this lesson. Arguably my most expansive tuition of all: how many teas did I not enjoy for the expectations I heaped upon them?
Less now. Many in the past.