Am finishing off a kilo of Assam Hajua. Sounds like I’m a drug addict, eh? I guess I am. Of sorts.
Tonight I had my birthday party and of the forty or more guests, six brought me some sort of tea. Not bad, eh? I was thrilled. And just like at other social events in the last several months, people wanted to talk with me about tea. What kind they should drink, why green tea was difficult to get used to, whether glass or china teapots are better…you understand.
This is exactly why I wanted to do this blog. Exactly.
To learn more about tea is a plus. No doubt. But I could’ve done that on my own without advertising to the bloggosphere that I was doing so. I could easily have read a book about tea, frequented tea shoppes or found a tea mentor. None of those things demanded my doing this blog lark.
The blog allows me to do several things. My friend J thinks all blogs are a bit of self-congratulatory navel gazing. Yeah? So? Have you seen my navel? Honestly?
My navel is something to be documented.
I can get others into tea the way I got into it. I still have a cup of coffee periodically, but for the most part I’ve made the switch. I believe I’m healthier as a result. No empirical proof of that, but I'm not nearly as stressed and am better able to handle the emotional fluctuations of my day. I attribute that entirely to my increased tea consumption. There’s no other change in my life that I can point to. None.
If anything my life has become more overwhelming in the last several months. I’ve left one client and been asked to leave by another one. Have made huge decisions about moving house and continue to drink more tea and breathe more deeply. Did I mention my undeniably intriguing navel?
If you still drink a lot of coffee and don’t have any adverse health problems as a result, keep doing so. If you’re in no way interested in tea but just come here for the gripping social commentary, I can tell you about some much better blogs/sites. But if you’re even remotely similar to me and want to know more about tea and its history, then keep reading, commenting and questioning. You’re certainly welcome to do all three.
Oh, tea-guru-san, how long does one steep navel lint? Thank you, thank you, oh tea-guru-san, for allowing some to still consume coffee.
ReplyDeleteWow. A bit of aggression there, Jeffrey.
ReplyDeleteYou're exactly the type of commenter you warned me of. Thanks for your support.
I also get really excited when people start asking me these sorts of questions about tea, although I'm not sure how I'd feel if they started asking me about my navel.
ReplyDeleteI actually have another idea about how tea blogs and online tea communities have a potentially very powerful purpose in this world: they get people to think about (and thus pay more attention to) the subtlety of the aroma and flavors of what they're drinking.
Sometimes I think a very large part of the health crisis that America and other countries are facing is due to the fact that people don't pay attention to what our food and drink tastes like...we just are susceptible to advertisement and then we buy based on brand names. But writing a tea blog throws a wrench in all of this...and as you're pointing out, it also can lead to better health! I suspect that the ways a tea blog could lead to better health for its readers and writers, though, goes beyond just the question of tea...ultimately I think the more attention you pay to how your food tastes, the healthier you end up eating.
Couldn't agree more Alex. Preaching to the proverbial choir there.
ReplyDeleteAs a tea blogger myself, I like to find nuggets of information that are interesting, or look at stuff a different way. I think we bloggers add to the world-wide discussion on tea, and while people are talking about it, it stays front-of-mind, and more people drink it!
ReplyDeleteSo Ken, it's up to us and like minded individuals to spread the word: DRINK MORE GOOD TEA !