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.

Abwarten und Tee trinken

Did something a bit abnormal yesterday. Not that this'll surprise many of you. I make a habit of the less-than-normal. It's my usp (unique selling proposition)...if I have one.

Here's the thing: I have a teablog. You're looking at it. I write about tea and tea-related topics. That's rather straightforward, isn't it? I tend to think so.

In the past, the only blog I had was a teablog, and I often found myself talking about subjects that at first glance were distantly (if at all) related to tea. It's still part of the enjoyment I have here. To come up with a topic far, far away from tea, and to somehow find a connection.

But now I have a NonTeablog (lahikmajoe's general and rather abnormal blog). It's great fun. I write about a variety of things and it's a portfolio for when someone wants to see examples of my writing. I've made a concerted effort to not let the quality of my teablog deteriorate just because I'm writing over there, as well as other places. For the most part, I think I've been successful.

Although it must be said: the topics that earlier were creatively linked to tea normally find themselves on the NonTeablog. It's sadly a more natural fit.

What was the abnormal thing I did yesterday? Well, a topic that most likely belongs on a teablog was somehow more appropriate over there. You don't believe me? Take a look for yourself:

wait and drink tea

So I decided to pull it over here. Even the title is screaming out to be shared on a teablog. And I know just the one. This one...the very one you're reading. Here's how I described the German idiom that is 'Abwarten und Tee trinken':

'Literally it means ‘wait and drink tea‘. Yet as with most idioms, the literal definition is only part of the story. Wait and drink tea is used specifically when adding pressure to negotiations won’t help. When the best thing to do is to do nothing at all. So, you have to wait…and while waiting, why not brew some tea? It’ll at least make the wait a bit more pleasant.'

Not  a bad phrase, is it?

So what am I drinking right now while I wait? When I was at Laifufu Teesalon last weekend, I got this wonderful Taiwanese green tea called Bi Luo Chun (2011). Want to see the leaves? Here they are:

Bi Luo Chun green

How was it? How did it taste? A bit grassy...like a Japanese Sencha. But not too much. Very light, vegetal flavour that was terribly pleasing. Not all green tea will taste as good the second time around, but this Bi Luo Chun was as good if not better.

I know Ya Ya at Tea Trade got some of the same tea, and I'm curious what he has to say about it. The story of this specific tea's picking and processing was really quite intriguing, but I think Ya Ya understood it better. I'll leave it to him to explain it (only if he wants, of course).

Here I am savouring the second infusion of this delicious tea directly from Taiwan. I'm waiting and tea drinking. As is my wont.

some very exhausted green tea leaves

tea gratitude

Gong Fu in motion

Had a fantastic weekend, and it had everything (and nothing) to do with tea. Treated myself to a tea session at Laifufu Teesalon on Saturday, and it put me in just the right frame of mind to savour the rest of that day and the next.

 Si Ji Chun Oolong leaves

Drank a delicious Si Ji Chun Oolong from Nanton, Taiwan.  The tea was relatively highly oxidised and since I normally go for Oolongs that're lightly oxidised, this was also a nice break from the ordinary (Here, to the left, were the leaves beforehand).

I was thrilled, as always, with Laifufu, which I found out means 'Das Glück soll kommen' (luck/happiness is coming).

Like I say, this was the way I eased into a few both relaxing and productive days. Which if I'm forthright, is exactly why I love drinking tea. One of the many reasons.

I can get so much done while drinking tea, and it somehow calms me without interfering with my making progress.

Also I'm really enjoying the tea community and my little corner of it. I suppose I could assume it was understood how grateful I am to have found all of you tea bloggers and tea obsessives, as a result of this blog and The Association of Tea Bloggers and Tea Trade and Steepster and and and...

But Springtime is busting out all over, and I've decided now is as good a time as any to go all wobbly. I adore you folk, and my life has definitely benefitted from our acquaintance(s). Thanks for everything and here's to much more of the same.

the very exhausted leaves after the fact

an as yet unheralded tea people in Munich

Altes Rathaus in Munich

Peter at Tea Trade had an idea this summer that I'd already considered, but it was nice to hear it from another source. When tea lovers are going to Munich, I want them to think Lahikmajoe. Of course many of you would. You know I'm here because I write about it all the time.

But I was doing an internet search this week, and on a whim I searched 'Munich' + 'tea' expecting to see myself well represented. Go ahead and try it. I'm not represented at all. This has to be corrected.

For one thing, I don't often include the word tea in my tags. And even though I've written about teashops and tea salons here in my adopted home, I should keep talking about my favourite places and their tea here. There's quite a selection.

If you happen to be travelling through Germany and find yourself here in the capital of beer consumption,  I want you to know of your tea drinking options. If I happen to be in town at the time, I'd love to meet you in one of those shops to share a pot of tea or three. When you think 'Munich' and 'tea', I want you to think Lahikmajoe. I don't think that's too much to ask.

Let me remind you of some of my favourite places here in the Bavarian capitol:

a general sense of well-being

That's all about the Tushita Teehouse, which is normally first on my list of places to take people here. There's also the sweet little shop around the corner called Laifufu, which I wrote about here:

Oolong Nirvana in the next street over

What about teashops? Well, my local shop is called teegalerie in Munich-Neuhausen. I was so excited this summer when he had some Flugtee for me:

finally a cup of first flush

There are quite a few other tea drinking and tea selling places here, and I plan to go into much more detail about them. From now on, I'd like to be much easier to find when people are looking for tea people in Munich. 

planning to host fellow tea obsessives

This week I found out that a fellow tea obsessive that I met through twitter will be visiting Munich this summer. Actually a couple of tea obesessives. Should be quite the experience. Am already pondering where to take them for tea.

I go on and on about the meagre opportunities for decent tea drinking here in this city, but we do have tea shops/tearooms and I honestly can't wait to show these places off.

My visitors are already very familiar with the city of Munich, but in Southern Germany the people are much better known for their Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake) than they are for their knowledge of tea and tea drinking. This is slowly changing. We have a budding tea culture.



There's the Tushita Teehaus, which I wrote about in a general sense of well-being, and then even closer is the Laifufu Teesalon, which I wrote about in Oolong Nirvana in the Next Street Over. (pictured on the left)






There's a very British place, which I'll talk about another time, where we could have cream tea, and if we're really ready to throw caution to the wind, there's always Afternoon Tea at Die Vierjahreszeiten (The Four Seasons).



So there's no reason for me to get overly excited just yet. Still have to wait several months for the opening ceremonies, but just going through our options for tea in Munich is making me thirsty.

Oolong Nirvana in the next street over

My plan is still to go into more detail about the teas I was sent by Darjeeling Tea Express, but something excited has come up. I have to talk about it.

Recently, a few different people told me that there was a new tea shop nearby. My hopes were not high. Immediately, my thoughts turned to what sort of shop it might be. My worst nightmare was kitschy knick knacks and assorted artificially flavoured teas. Just in time for the holidays.

I was in for a shock. Immediately as I walked up to the window, it was obvious that my assumptions were all wrong. Here's the Laifufu Teesalon:





The owner is a Taiwanese woman called Pei-Jen, and it was quickly apparent that she was a wealth of information about Oolong tea. This really could not get any better. First I wandered through and admired the teapots and cups on display:







Then at the back of the room there's a little set of tables looking out on the quiet, snowy courtyard. I think you'll find me here quite often in the coming months:








Asked for an Oolong recommendation, and was encouraged to sit and try multiple infusions of a high mountain Oolong called Alishan Zhu Lu. The first infusion was ok, but nothing special. It had a very strong floral smell, but I couldn't taste it. Luckily, each infusion became more floral and more dramatic. Once again, I'm not surprised that I like a tea grown at a high altitude.

While Pei-Jen poured cup after cup, we talked about a wide variety of topics relating to Oolong tea. Wealthy nouveau riche Chinese who come in and buy entire crops of a plantation before the tea has even been processed. Oolong tea being sold on the market as authentic Taiwanese, which is over-priced and potentially not even from Taiwan.

If you happen to be in Munich-Neuhausen, you'll find the Laiffu Teesalon at Maillinger Straße 14, 80636 München (Munich). There's a website still under construction, but I'll go ahead and give the address (http://www.laifufu.de).

I wanted to include a photo of Pei-Jen, but thought it might be overwhelming on the first visit. Nevertheless, here's a photo of the table where we drank the delicious tea I've described: