Tea is like classical music. Or jazz. In that for a complete beginner the whole seems to be of such gigantic proportions that you don´t know where to start. You are not familiar with the inner workings and dynamics of this unknown land and that feeling can be so overwhelming that you never get started in the first place. That, at least, is how I´ve been feeling lately as I´ve been trying to infiltrate this ancient order of mystics, poets and philosophers.
My reasons for beginning my journey to the Land of Tea was a practical one: having been a big time coffee drinker for my whole adult life I finally came to the realization that coffee didn´t suit me. It got me nervous and made me anxious. I guess it was the caffeine I´m sensitive to. I was very reluctant to give it up, it was such a big part of my life, a habit and maybe even an addiction. I guess the difference between the two is just a thin red line.
So I began thinking about alternatives and tea was really the only one. For a couple of months I bought and drank bagged teas from the supermarket. They didn´t taste like much, but I used them to fill the empty space that giving up coffee had left. At some point (I guess it was after going through 25 bags of Twinings´ "Prince of Wales") I started thinking that there must be something more to this tea- thing? How could it ever had become a drink with such a huge cultural and social history if it tasted so bland as did these factory-made little paperbags with some powder in them? There had to be something I was not getting here.
So the next time I went into the supermarket, I selected a bag of loose leaf tea from the shelf, a pure Assam, dark and strong. Once home I steeped it with an small old sieve that I unearthed from the cupboard. I won´t say that I got a full- out rapture out of it, but it really did taste better and fuller than that bagged stuff, it had more character. Somehow it started a little light in some distant corner of my brain. I noticed I was thinking more about tea every day. I started searching the internet for information, and sure enough found lots of it. I bought a couple more bags of loose leaf tea and I was on my way. I was now sure there really was more to tea than I had ever realized. At this point the allegory that I started this post with came very real with me, there was so much I wanted to know and try but wasn´t sure where I should start? Should I try green, white or yellow teas first? If greens, then which ones? I also had no teaware, what sort should I get? Could I get anything out of these nice (and quite expensive) teas without an yixing teapot? Should I buy online or from local shops? I felt overwhelmed.
But in some rare moment of clarity (maybe after a cup of tea?) I made a pact with myself: for once in my life I would try to take it easy. I was in no hurry other than what I myself imagined, so why not just do what felt comfortable and do things in their own pace? Enjoy the journey, because I guess the journey is the only thing that is ever going to be real and true in life. Drink today what happens to be there to drink, and don´t be too concerned with tomorrow. At that I felt a certain calmness.
So I figured I should start up this blog now while I´m still standing at the very beginning of this path. Maybe someone may find it useful as even a partial roadmap to the vast world of tea. I also hope that I will be able to cling to the role of the beginner, because I´ve noticed that that´s often the best way to experience life.
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