A Tea Addict's Journal

I went to Wisteria today, to see Aaron and a couple who are making a documentary about tea. I met the couple once already, but since I figured Aaron might be able to help them a lot more (seeing as he’s in Taiwan and all) we planned to meet together before we left. After some discussion, the meeting ended up being at Wisteria.

We started with a tea that Aaron brought with him — some tea from Tibet. It’s a mixture, actually — a tea with some other plant. Aaron thinks it’s a white tea plus some moss-like herb. We really have no clue. It reminded me of the incense smell I get from flipping some of these old books that I regularly have to read, most likely because the books were stored in places where incense was burned regularly. It’s a very calming tea, actually, and the plant, whatever it is, has a sort of citrus like taste and a great aftertaste. I could feel the medicinal quality of this thing. Very very nice stuff.

Then we had a 1930s puerh called “Shuang Hua” or twin flowers. Not one of the most famous brands out there, but it’s still old nonetheless. It’s a relaxing tea — mellow, good soft qi, but not too powerful (there’s a reason it’s not that famous). Still, one can’t complain about drinking stuff like this.

It was a nice tea meeting to end my visit in Taiwan this time. They sometimes call Taiwan “Treasure Island” here. For the tea enthusiast, there’s a lot of treasures to be found, provided that you’ve got the time, energy, and patience to deal with it. It took me a while before I had a sort of breakthrough in finding good stuff, but I think eventually I found some pretty nice teas and teaware along the way. I’m sure I’ll come back, but for now… I am looking ahead at a 24 hours trip through SFO and IAD to CMH. I wonder if I’ll see snow tomorrow?