>How did everyone get interested in tea? Many of you have lived in
>Asia, but are not from Asia. Did your interest develop after you went
>to Asia? Why tea when the world is interested in coffee? (I,
>personally, have never liked coffee, but I envy those who do.) How do
>those around you view your fascination with tea (for those fascinated
>with tea)? Do they see it as eccentric? It is obviously not very
>eccentric when you're caught up in it, but I fear most people cannot
>understand this interest, regardless of where in the world one might
>be.


I would say that I was always interested in teas moreso than coffee,
not really sure why exactly. Coffee just seemed a normal part of life
in my upbringing with the two cups my parents imbibed each morning
before work, and I never took a taste to it. They always got a cheap
brand with the cheap filters and drank it because of it's properties
and not for any cultural reasoning. I must say that some of the
higher quality coffees can be quite good, but it still didn't seem my
....cup of chai. heh.

I would wander aficionado shops and gander at all the different brands
and I recall having no idea where to even begin my sampling and
education in regards to tea. It seemed that all of them were scented
with this herb and had that property that was good for this or that.
Then you had the inexplicitly expensive teas and little knowledge from
the counter-maid to justify. I come from a rather small area in the
US, and even my trips to our capital didn't prove to be beneficial in
my hedge-interest. The money was in coffee. The other option was the
grocery store...which only sold Twinning's Earl Grey and English
Breakfast.

I really began to get into tea seriously when there was an available
venue, which was when I went to China. I learned a lot about
different sorts of green teas when I was in the Western, Sichuan
province and I learned about the more well known Wulongs and more
popular teas when I lived in the southeast. It just seemed like a
normal part of life to drink tea there, and it was one of the
adaptations that I made very willingly. They drink tea in restaurants
and even in bars sometimes. But, it's not like most coffee in the US,
drank for effect rather than enjoyment. It's for culture, it's for
tradition, it's for honor, it's for relaxing. It's also not always
about spending money to enjoy a really good tea. It's about making
friends, but not like at Starbucks.

It's becoming that way though. I suppose it can be that way in every
country given the money making opportunity.

Now that I have returned to America, I am seen as an eccentric and I
am placated by those that cannot understand their own palates or have
their palates be more open-minded. They see my interest in Gongfu Cha
as a 'chinese tea party' and say that my pu'er tastes like dirt and my
wulong tastes strange...they want to add sugar or milk or something
else. They think real Chinese tea is the Green tea scented with
apples or cherries and is sold at books-a-million. This is my reality
here, and this is why I post here religiously now; so happy to find
others that know the differences between a good wulong and a poor one
and have tasted the differences.

I am also here to learn. I know there are people here that have
knowledge that far surpasses mine, and I find it excellent and I only
hope that I can share what little I know in the conversation. Isn't
this the only to truly learn? For instance, I know little about other
types of teas around the world other than Chinese. I hope to be
educated here.

Hope this suffices. heh.







Mydnight

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thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.