Must one study tea to really appreciate it?

Have been up on the mountain most of the day, and here's a photo of my trusty orange flask as proof:


As much as I enjoy drinking tea at the top of the mountain after the most strenuous part of the hike, one of the things I like most is the time I have up there to ponder things.






Today I had exactly just such an opportunity, and some of that time I spent considering how to answer a question that was posed to me by a relatively new reader to this blog. I've mentioned Cara in Cleveland before, but in reference to what tea would best to mask the anti-allergy medication she wanted to give a phlegmy coworker.  My regular readers will concede that this topic is exactly the sort of contribution we need to the world of teablogging.


Now to be pedantic about this, we can't call Cara in Cleveland a newcomer to tea.  She's drunk tea for years and has a favourite brand that her grandmother drinks.  This Red Rose tea is one I'd not heard of, but supposedly it's rather well-known and widely available.  So this isn't someone who's never had tea.  She's not approaching tea drinking for the first time.  


I'm not going to quote her question directly, but essentially she asked if one really needed to become a tea obsessive to enjoy tea.  Do you need to learn about leaves, flavours, steepings, and whatever else to fully get the experience?  Must one practically study tea to really appreciate it?


I think it's a fair question, and I'll tell you exactly how I responded.  I said, 'Not at all. I know tons of Brits who'd rather not think about it at all. Depends on what you want to do.'


What I meant was that many people simply want to drink the tea that they've always drunk and not over-think it.  They don't want fancy tea gear. They're not interested in Asian tea ceremony.  Tea is tea.  It's a daily enjoyment but it needn't be anything more.


And you might think that a teablogger would be against that.  Would have some sort of snotty elitest position on such people.  Other teabloggers might, but not this one.  If you want to enjoy your tea and not be bothered with all the other stuff, then you have my support and even my blessing.


But that begs the question:  What are you doing here Mr Lahikmajoe?  Why all the Sturm und Drang?  Why the obsessive questions and contemplations and strongly-held opinions?


Those are questions for another time.  They too are quite interesting and deserve my full attention.  For now though, I'm going to brew a pot of Choice Formosa Oolong and rest my well-hiked legs.