White Whisperings of Peace at the End of the Semester

Hello, everyone! I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've last posted. Things became very hectic this semester at school. It was very stressful for a while and somehow that made me put off tea a little (still drank, just not as much). But I've made some changes and am very happy to be reunited with drinking tons and tons of tea and being much more stress-free.

For those of you who are unaware, it's the final two weeks of the 2012 fall semester here at Mount Holyoke College. To summarize before I lose sight of how this semester went after my classes finish, my favorite classes ended up being all of them. Haha. I've learned so much and feel that I've grown so much this semester. It's been difficult, and while I don't think any printed letters on my transcripts will show anything stellar this semester I've still learned a lot and have been having a lot of fun. (I'm afraid some of you may be going, "Oh my gosh, what on earth did she do?!" right now, but really, I just bomb-dived in one class and finally dropped it, but not after doing some damage to my work in others. ;^; Haha)

Right now I'm listening to the song on the left, Tears of the East by Phillip Wesley. I absolutely love this pianist. He artfully manipulates my feelings through the delicate and thoughtful way his fingers travel the keys.

While listening to him today, I'm finally enjoying a sample from Phoenix Tea that I'd put off for a long while. I was saving it for a really special occasion, but I've come to the conclusion that if paid attention to properly, every moment is a special occasion and should be appreciated as such. In other words I was really impatient to try this White Whisper Tea from Kenya (page 9).

When I opened the little sample pack, I initially thought that there must've been a mistake somewhere. If I hadn't seen the leaves, I would've thought there was a dried apricot in there instead. I will be the first to admit that I do not partake in a great deal of white teas (you all know me as a pu-erh and green tea person by now, I hope), but the majority of those that I have drank have never smelled like this before. Usually they're kinda flowery, maybe fairly grassy like green tea even. But like a freaking dried apricot?? On The Royal Tea of Kenya's homepage right now there is a small video about them. One of the things the woman in it mentions is that a story about a friend of the founder, Joy, who upon drinking a tea from Joy's family's tea farm remarks that drinking their tea is the equivalent of switching from black and white television to color. This tea demonstrates that perfectly.

The apricots I smelled was remarkably conserved in the flavor. The flavor was a lot more flowery than the scent though, but just when I thought my cup was done a shocking sweet aftertaste appeared. Immediately I forced my roommate to drink it with me. She really enjoyed it and described it as very refreshing.

Anyways, I've just finished my 6th brew of this, and I'm literally swaying back in forth in my chair while listening to these lovely piano tunes because I feel just so happy and serene.

And there is one last post I'd like to make in this post. I knew that technically making tea was considered a meditative thing, but I never really was conscious of that until today. But really, out of love for the tea and the art of making it, you have to be so aware of your actions when making tea gongfu style. You are aware of every piece on the tea tray, the temperature of the water and pieces, the smell of the tea, the way the stream flows as it's poured from gaiwan into chahai, its appearance in the chahai if you have a glass one like me, how it's poured, more about the scent, and finally how you drink it, its taste, and how it makes you feel. I was just reading The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh the other day (and I should mention here how impressive it is that I'm able to do out of class reading at this school), and all that above is basically like the excerpts from the manual given to the novices he talked about. I'm not directly quoting, but it said something like, "Be aware of everything as you do it. When you're walking, walking." It might sound like overkill, but this is my experience with tea and it makes it beautiful and relaxing.

Have a happy day and enjoy your cup of tea.

There is such a thing as too many leaves in a pot...

I didn't think it was possible, but I managed to put in too much pu-erh into too little water. This has caused my tea to be so ridiculously thick that it's almost syrupy! Normally I like this, but this is very thick even for me. When I swirl it around it leaves trails that are noticeable from a distance around the inside of my cup. My solution? You betcha I'm diluting it as I pour it. Hahaha. But oh my goodness, this is just too much tea for one person. I wish I'd made this for a group of people. I suppose this is a good lesson about keeping up with dishes for the poor college student.

To be more truthful though, this is a good lesson about utilizing my resources properly. As I keep reminding you all, I'm a poor college student (much more so now that I finally bought my ticket to Japan for winter break!!!!), and therefore I cannot buy as much tea or teaware as I'd love to. I suppose I could convert this blog into a tea reviewing one, but I find all the background stories around tea (the research and just sharing it with people) to be a more interesting writing topic to me. Instead, I have to be very meticulous in not only what I buy, but also in how I consume. There are a few ways I could do this. Drinking less often is out of the question for me. I end up getting dehydrated when I'm too busy to drink tea for a few days, not to mention I enjoy being happy. It's not very convenient for me to put in less tea leaves when I'm making a brew too, because especially for my cooked pu-erhs, I enjoy them thick. However! I have come to the realization that I have one more option. Use a smaller gaiwan! Here is a picture of all of my tea brewing vessels:

 Normally I use either my brown gaiwan or my small yixing in the back. The yixing is actually a bit bigger than the gaiwan, but still not big enough to overfill my fairness pitcher. I use it for my coooked pu-erhs, and when I finally get around to prepping the flat gaiwan I will decide what I'm going to use it for. All of those are good for sharing with about 6-8people maximum. 

I love my beautiful kyusu. But it's big! Hahaha. It's pretty difficult to make anything in it to drink for just myself. I either do pu-erhs that I can just leave in indefinitely or green teas in cold water so that I don't have to worry about over brewing. I heard I could do this with lightly oxidized oolongs too, so when I open up this one I'm currently keeping safe and sealed I'll try that out.

Finally, draw your eyes to the little cute white gaiwan with plum blossoms in the front. I think I have pictures of it up from before, but anyways, this was my first gaiwan! I bought it in a very nice cute little travel set that I used extensively last year since it included a very nice ceramic tea tray. I haven't used it very much this year though, because finally I bought all of the other tea ware you see (except the black and red yixing in the back which I had before), but I've come to the conclusion that it would be best for me to use this one when I'm making tea for myself. 

In the U.S., we are constantly bombarded with "BIGGER IS BETTER!" I think this trend is going away now, but as this was the theme of my childhood it has definitely left it's subconscious impact. When I bought the plum blossom gaiwan set and the previous yixing teapot, I got their small size for the sake of traveling. In fact, I thought that they would be too small for even one person. No no no! From now on I will be using my plum blossom gaiwan when serving myself. It really should make enough for me, especially considering how many times I get brews out of my leaves. I need to get away from this American "big=good" ideology and more into thinking on the smaller side and keeping everything in moderation. 

By using a smaller gaiwan I use less leaves, am more mindful of how much I drink, and will hopefully avoid wasting good tea in the future like I did with making an entire thick pot of a delicious pu-erh in that large kyusu. Mindfulness and moderation are wonderful principals to live by. Let's hope they help me and my wallet along my college journey.