The fruits of three pre-lunch pots of tea…

A time of mists

Our brief Indian Summer faded away like the steam from a rapidly cooling cup of Oolong, and we effortlessly segued into the back-end of the year.

Now, when my furry feline overlord drags me back from REM-land at 5 am with a playful headbutt, the streetlights are still on, and daylight proper lies about an hour and a half in the future.

With superb timing the Longjing I’d bought as a replacement for the green gunpowder that had been fuelling my habitual boot-up early morning pot ran out. There’s just something about these darker, cooler, autumnal mornings that doesn’t sit well with drinking green tea.

To usher in the new season I decided to reacquaint myself with local tea-boutique Five O’clock Tea’s Yunnan Gold. It seems to fit in better with the mood of these murkier mornings.

Even so, I can’t help thinking that it should be packing more of a punch. When I’ve drunk it up I might experiment with a Keemun, maybe even a Lapsang Souchong. If the taste of pine smoke can’t get you up and running before breakfast, you have real problems…

For the love of the leaf

I was watching a YouTube video the other day featuring an interview with American tea guru James Norwood Pratt, and something he said really struck a chord with me.

When asked what it takes to impress or “wow!” him after all his years on the tea scene, he replied that it’s all too easy to admire the fragrant and the flamboyant, and one who truly loves tea will find something of merit in even the humblest and most self-effacing of teas.

This was particularly relevant as I was drinking a pot of the very definition of an archetypal humble, self-effacing shou Pu-erh at the time…

Interestingly enough this also reminded me of something in Chapter 63 of the Dao De Ching – Cha Dao indeed…

Encourage and suggest

In my bid to make this household a teabag free zone, I am slowly attempting to wean Mrs. Teaist off PG-Tips.

The first stage of this cunning plan involves replacing her current brew with Twinings English Breakfast.

Wish me luck…