Welcome to 2017. I trust the first day of the brand new year finds you and yours well and happy.

I saw out the old year and ushered in the new one in style, with the last of the Yu Chi Shan Cha.

I’d prepared beforehand, and had my kit laid out ready for the big moment.

As we approached midnight I dropped the leaves into my glass gong-fu pot, and then rinsed, steeped and decanted with impeccable timing, so when ’16 rolled in ’17 I was able to mark the occasion by raising a glass of that sweet, delicious, ruby liquid.

We stood on our balcony for a while, watching the fireworks. I popped back indoors every now and then for a top-up from the gong dao bei.

To be honest, there was probably about a session and a half’s worth of leaves in the pot, but I was hitting it with really short flash infusions, and it was holding up well.

By 1 o’clock I’d just drained a second Thermos of hot water when bang! out went the lights. Power cut. No more hot water for a while, then.

Luckily the gong dao bei was full, so I was able to sit there in the candlelight, reflecting on the teas I had drunk in 2016, and looking forward to the ones I would hopefully get to experience in 2017.

There was the wonderful tea I was currently drinking of course, as well as an exceptionally nice Anji Bai Cha, and a great sheng Fang Cha.

Honourable mentions also had to go to the Fujian Tulou Cha, and the Long Jing.

I thought about my plans to become more active on the tea scene by joining Steepster, reaching out to fellow tea lovers in the local area, making more videos maybe. I made a silent new year’s resolution-esque pledge to wrap my head around the various Pu-erh producing regions and their respective mountains.

I even made a sincere commitment to finally finish a post about a very nice Moonlight White tea I have quietly maturing, one that has been stuck in development hell since April last.

Then, suddenly, the lights came back on, and the meditative spell was broken.

I took it as a sign to call a halt to the proceedings and the celebrations, and so I tidied up and went to bed, safe in the knowledge that when I woke up I had a good tea stash to take me into the new year, as well as a solid plan for the year ahead…