An meine deutschen Leser: heute werde ich keine Verkostungsbeschreibung posten, sondern auf einen Gastbeitrag von Krabbenhueter auf tee-fokus eingehen. Daher werde ich heute hier nur englisch schreiben - Ihr habt ja den Vorteil, dass Ihr Krabbenhueters Originaltext lesen könnt.
Dear English speaking readers,
Today will not be tasting notes on a specific tea. Key, a fellow blogger and teafriend recently started opening his blog tee-fokus to guest writers. One of them is Krabbenhueter, another teafriend and member of teetalk.de (German tea forum). Krabbenhueter's entry on tee-fokus stroke a point which resonated with some aspects of my love for tea.
That blog entry is about his way of preparing and enjoying tea: just infusing the leaves, pouring the tea into the cup ... and enjoying the result. No academic research on the tea variety or studying what others might think about it - just letting the tea speak for itself. (at least thats what I feel is that entry's essence).
To drink tea like Krabbenhueter is something I should do far more often! Searching the internet for further information while the tea is brewing ... analysing taste, fragrance mouthfeel ... catching my impressions and arresting them in words and analogies ... publishing these descriptions with the risk of influencing others ... should I go on?
In an ideal world I would be mindful, focussed only on the present sensations (not the past like 'when was it harvested' or the future like 'which tea should I drink so I can write about it on my blog').
But this is reality and an ideal life is far distant from my daily routines. So I will keep on sharing how I feel about this or that tea - not for the purpose of carving in stone what a tea is like, but to make you curious and inspire you to be open for new teas. The truth is: I am not a very quiet person and I just need an opening to express my tea impressions.
Well, I will try to have mindful sessions like today more often in the future and I should try to cultivate more spontanity in preparing my tea (without camera or notebook). On the other hand I will keep on sharing some of my tea session with anyone who happens to drop in on this little blog.
Dear Gero,
AntwortenLöschenI think you're taking a new step on the way of tea, for some, enjoying tea without judging it is the real Way, and it can surely bring you a lot of pleasure.
I often have this kind of tea sessions, with candles and good music. I use a tea that I already know is good. From my experience, this approach is the best to experience Cha Qi.
Eventually, you might want to alternate analytic tasting with fully relaxed sessions, it will give you a different prospect on your tea, and you will learn a lot from both ways.
Good luck!
William
I've been giving this some thinking as well. I enjoy analyzing teas, making notes etc.. After drinking the tea 2-3 times, I start to get the big picture and then I start drinking it when I feel like drinking that particular tea, give it justice with a nice cha xi and no notebook/camera. It's difficult to focus on the tea for the whole session but worth it in the end.
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