Category: Writings

I had plans to write about a specific topic but last week-end, I spoke with a really nice old lady.

She asked me if I had any hobbies and among my answers was tea (the others wouldn’t really interest you, would they?).

This was the beginning of some questions regarding tea and its colours, the different producing countries, the plant… as she told me she didn’t know a thing about tea.

And as I began explaining things like that green and black teas are made of the same plant or that the different tea colours are “just” the result of different fermentation and oxidation processes (to make it real simple), I thought to myself “what is with tea that makes people so confused?”

I gave some more thoughts to this question and I had several other coming to my mind.

Why is tea so complex? Or rather why does it appear so? Isn’t this a way for us tea lovers to be a little mysterious and have a certain aura around us (the one of the guy or girl that knows how to do something the others don’t)? What is so different between coffee and tea that makes people think that tea is produced by several plants?

I think there is a need for more simplicity around our favourite drink. Why? First of all, being able to explain something in a simple way is a proof of one’s mastery of the concept. The poet Nicolas Boileau said (the translation is mine and mine alone) “What is well thought is clearly stated/and the right words to say it come easily.”

This must be our goal when speaking about tea because (and this is the second point) non knowledgeable people will get confused about complex explanations and since we are all both enthusiastic and full of knowledge, we will always be eager to say more than less.

And this might scare a lot of people. While going for the KISS (or Keep It Simple Stupid) rule will help us explain our hobby and passion to a lot of people and you might even make them try this strange thing we are drinking.

The second reason is that we (as tea drinkers but this also happens to anyone who knows) might be a bit haughty when dealing with other people that are true beginners as we know how to do it right (and sometimes more than some people trying to sell us tea)

I know that you, dear reader, do not fall in this category (no not at all) but let me tell you there are some people that do.

What will they achieve with such behaviour? Frighten people, make them unwilling to learn more. In other words, they will go against the “spirit” of tea as we all know that tea is not only a drink but something you share with people, something to enjoy be it alone or with other people.

So from now on, I will try to do that and also here on my blog: speak in a simple way but not with simplistic ideas.

I hope you will join me in this quest for simplicitea.

I was reading a compendium of novellas in the Dying Earth setting (a Jack Vance’s invention and for those of you who don’t know what I am speaking about, here is a link) when I came across one dealing with the finest wines on Earth, robbery and a sybaritic poet/sorcerer, “The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale” by Robert Silververg.

This Erzuine Thale had a really interesting ceremonial since each morning, he decided which wines he was going to drink, when and why. Some where there to lighten his mood, to allow him to sleep, to give him inspiration…

This made me wonder if I could do that or if anyone was doing something like this?

Since I don’t do that (I prefer to focus on the present with my emotions, needs and feelings when I choose my tea), I went on thinking about how I select the teas I buy (I know I have been dealing with this topic on some occasions on Teatrade but I would like to elaborate a little more).

When it comes to this, there are some basic schools: the “I only like a specific origin”, the “I only like teas that are blended with lemon” or the “let’s be adventurous and try to find something new.”

Obviously, you can add many more but I tried to gather all of them in a couple of big families.

If I had to define my style, I would go with the last one but with a slight twist, that allows me to be a bit idiosyncratic (since I first read it years ago, I always dreamt of using such a word). Some might say that I am a victim of our marketing times and I couldn’t agree less but I hope my selection process allows me to be something more than that.

But let’s get back on topic, me and my way of selecting the teas I buy.

First and foremost, the tea has to have an interesting name. Why a name? Because this is what attracts me first and foremost (hence the marketing victim).

What is an interesting name will you ask me. The answer is simple; one that allows me to travel in space and/or time, one that intrigues me. It changes from time to time as my interests are not always the same.

Then if it is a blend, I look at what is in it (mostly because I don’t like everything) and then smell it (although this is not mandatory as I don’t have a really good smell sense).

The ultimate step on my quest for a new tea is quite obvious: try it.

After getting to this point, you will tell me that this only works for blended teas and that for “pure” teas, I can’t and will probably never do it that way.

You are partly right (and then partly wrong) as I have certain preferences and although the names of the different gardens are sometimes an adventure by themselves, they can also be quite blunt.

However, let me tell you about three purchases I made during last year.

The first one (not in our normal spatio-temporal setting but in my memories) took place in Hamburg with our good friend @lahikmajoe. We went to a store I had never heard of that was full of Indian teas in bags and in bulk.

I came out of there with a bag of Darjeeling (obvious, no?) but from a garden named Bannockburn, which is a place in Scotland where the Scots fought and won against the English. Since I saw Braveheart, I had vivid pictures of this battle and of this place and upon seeing that name, my mind wandered and tried to create a link between the battle and the garden (for your information, I came up with one but I didn’t bother to look and check if I was right or wrong).

The second one (still in my memories) was bought in Norway.

I went to a nice shopping place (see there for my whole experience) and found this tea a China Moon Palace.

This name was so full of promises; imagine this what is a Moon Palace? And a Chinese one? Is it a mix of pagodas and the Forbidden City set on the Moon? Or something completely different? Again, I stopped there and didn’t fly to the Moon or play among the stars to see if I was right or wrong.

The power of this name was so strong and the smell was so nice that I bought a bag of it.

The last example was after these two events and took place on the Internet.

I was looking for an Oolong on the website of a company with good quality teas and I found one whose name would translate as Unique Leaf of the Phoenix (I am not sure if I translated right but I think you got the meaning).

I have a certain liking for odd and mythological beasts like the Phoenix (but also many others) and this is why I was attracted to this tea.

I don’t think it made me fly like a phoenix or that it will allow me to reborn from my ashes but after drinking it, I like its taste.

Now, you know a little more about how I proceed to select the teas I buy.

How do you do that? Am I the only one to have such a non standardised and personal selection process?

Women drinking tea…

At first, I thought it would be easy to write about that topic and say out loud that the tea drinkers are not all old grannies drinking their tea in English china but I found out I was wrong.

Now, I will probably have lost half the people reading this and angered the remaining half but if you can bear with me for a few more lines, I will try to explain why I found that out.

So why?

Because after thinking a lot about it, after watching people at their places, at work, in tea salons,… I found out that there is no such things as a specific or more womanly way of drinking tea. It is more the result of a tea culture (the famous 5 o’clock tea, the Japanese tea ceremony, the Chinese way of doing it,…) and of personal preferences/experiences.

True, most of us like to take our time to drink our tea and to appreciate it but we can also prepare and drink it as quickly (and perhaps even quicker) as any coffee drinker.

Why don’t we do that more often?

This comes from the spirit behind tea drinking and in this way, drinking tea is more akin to wine drinking than to coffee drinking.

Would anyone think that wine drinkers that take their time are old grannies and grandpas? The answer is no. Why? Because in the French culture, it is the way, wine must be drunk and the French think that people drinking it like the Russians are supposed to drink vodka (one shot and all down) are sinning. To see that, just send a French to a Scandinavian party and look at his face when they will drink everything quicker than their shadow as if it was water.

But to come back to the initial idea, people who think that tea drinkers are old grannies drinking their 5 o’clock tea with their small cakes are all wrong

This is just one way of drinking tea and people might go from one to another depending what they think is right, on their mood, the people they are with, the places they are in, the teas they are drinking…

So whether or not you are in a hurry or have time, are alone or with friends, are travelling or at home, working or relaxing, you are more than welcome to make yourself a tea and to drink it.

I am sure you will find a way to enjoy it.