Tea on the run

Any of you who've been reading this teablog for a while will remember my trusted orange flask. Displayed in many of my posts, it was a sad day when I had to retire that piece of tea gear.

The truth is that I've actually gone a bit off on carrying already-brewed tea around with me. If you know me, that'll surprise you. See, I've nearly always got a flask in my hand or buried deep within my rucksack.

Not anymore, though.

Many tea friends have asked me over the years, 'Why do you do that? You know the tea just tastes like the flask, right?'

Well, it's true. Not always, but often enough it's really easier to carry leaves with you and to arrange for hot water.

To be perfectly honest, that's much easier to lug around, anyway. Don't you think?

The people between the grass and the tea tree

Learned how to write 'tea' in Chinese today. It's actually rather easy. Maybe if I were better at technology, I'd show you my half-arsed attempts. Stay tuned. Maybe by the end of this post, I can make a screen shot of my scribbling.

Went back to Laifufu Teesalon today, when I was really quite fed up with everything. I knew I could go home and drink tea. I certainly have plenty in my cupboard. However, I wanted someone else to be tea mother, so I went to my favourite local.

You know about Laifufu, right? Here, I talked about them earlier this year when Ya Ya came to visit:

tea drunk at Laifufu

She had some interesting things to say, as she often does, and I met another tea drinker called Felix, who was quite nice and friendly. As tea drinkers often are, ya know?

Then she showed me how 'tea' in Chinese is a little story. That's the way to learn this language. As if every character is a narrative.

The story is, as she told it, 'First you have "grass" up above.

'Then the symbol for "men" and underneath that is the "tea plant" or "tea tree".'

So in Chinese, tea is 'The people between the grass and the tea tree'.

This made me smile. I'm smiling more and more often these days. Must be doing something right.

Bloom Tea

Any of you heard of this brand of tea?

Step 1 - ideal at breakfast

good for Metabolism

Step 2 - ideal for morning

good for De-Stressing

Step 3 - ideal at noon

good for Digestion

Step 4 - ideal for afternoon

good for Concentration

Step 5 - ideal for evening

good for Relaxation

I'm trying these teas now, and I'll soon let you know what I thought.

Meeting The Devotea

What an experience.

Twas an experience, I tell you.

Meeting Robert and his lovely wife. One of the high points of my visit, and I'm not even done yet.

Second Annual International Tea Trade Convention in London

London bound for the Convention

Last year we had the First Annual International Tea Trade Convention in Munich when the founders and administrators of the site visited me, while on a whirlwind tour through Germany. Xavier also met us, as well as his girlfriend who we met for the first time (and really liked).

So, although the founders can't be there, I'll be visiting Robert Godden in London next weekend, and we've decided to hold the 2nd Annual International Tea Trade Convention. Might sound like we're blowing a small gathering out of proportion and making it sound much more important than it really is.

Who? Us?

Like Robert and I'd ever do such a thing. I'm almost offended at the very thought.

Here's the thing, my little tea drinking friends: we need a venue. Like, desperately. Robert has some favourite tea salons in England's capital, and I know some quirky cafés that may or may not serve decent tea. Those aren't nearly good enough for such an event. Hardly.

We need a place with wifi, so we can have a bit of virtual tea drankin' with whomever shows the slightest interest in taking part in such an astoundingly important event. And it'd be nice if the place actually served tea.

However, now that I think about it I realise The Devotea and I probably carry around enough tea that we could have our convention anywhere that'd let us plug in our travel kettle and give us space enough to brew up. My taste buds are perking up at the very thought.

You're probably asking yourself, 'How might one take part in the virtual tea drankin' and more importantly will there be teablogging of the 2nd Annual International Tea Trade Convention?'

For the former, contact Robert or me on twitter or Feckbook. And the answer to the latter is, 'Most definitely yes! There will be teablogging.'

It has been decreed.

Tushita Teehaus in the morning

What a wonderful way to start the longest day of my week. Most people call it a day early on Friday, but not me. If anything, I find that if I want a lighter workday, it's best for me to schedule that earlier in the week.

The weekend is prime time for my new job. We're not only an online paper, but the goal is that we go back into print this month as a weekly newspaper serving not only Munich but all of the English-speaking community in Bavaria.

How stressful is that? Well, it's a marathon rather than a sprint. So starting out my busiest day at one of my favourite tea salons was really a stroke of genius.

Wish I could say it'd been mine, but that wouldn't be accurate. It was my client who came up with the idea.

Not that I spent much time arguing with her. Jumping at the opportunity, we met just as the Tushita Teehaus was opening their doors and setting tables out on the street.

I had a Sheng Pu-erh, and because my client had a bit of a cold, the friendly tea seller suggested an herbal tisane that'd soothe her throat. My tea was quite good. A great way to start the morning.

The cakes of Pu-erh pictured below made me very envious of people who drink this sort of thing all the time.

One day, eh? Well, I certainly hope so.

drinking tea Gangnam style

'What does this have to do with tea drinking?' you ask.

Well, clearly you've never been teadrunk. Like I am now.

Several months ago, I wanted to include Mr Rogers singing over a funky beat before it went viral. If you're on social media, you often see things when they're first big, and then the major news sources find out about them days if not weeks later.

If you really want this to be somehow tangentially related to tea, then I'll tell you what I'm drinking right now.

Are you ready?

I'm drinking tea.