Tea tasting old school (analog)

This teablog is still a bit of a crapshoot. When I ask myself what my motives are, I think, ‘Hmmm…’

Haven’t got much past the hmmm. I suppose sharing what I discover about tea is the biggest goal I have here. To do it virtually is an interesting proposition, because if I recommend a tea, such as Sencha Fudji, there’s no way I know if any of you actually went and tried that specific tea.

Because my tea dealer’s in Germany, I can’t imagine any of you in the US or Australia would bother ordering the exact same tea I’m talking about. If your tea guy has a similar green, you might order Sencha Fuji from him and that’s similar enough. More power to you.

So in some ways, meeting people analog (the old-fashioned way) and serving them tea is a much more immediate payoff. That’s what I did today, and I want to tell you about the experience. Had friends over for Kaffee und Kuchen, which is a very common thing to do on a Sunday afternoon in Germany. Very gemütlich. There was both coffee and cake. As always, I served tea as well. Most declined when I tried to pawn my loose-leaf tea off on them.

They came for coffee and cake and coffee and cake they wanted. But somehow I made the right choice of who to invite, because a few of them actually seemed excited at the prospect of a cuppa. Their eyes lit up when I said, ‘Would you like a cup of black or even green tea?’ ‘Yes, please,’ was the response and I served them my finest Japanese Sencha. Have written about it here recently. I get only compliments when I serve it. People ask me to write the tea’s name down, which I do gladly.

It’s exactly how it turned out today, too. It wasn’t even a recommendation. I offered them tea, they accepted and then got something far better than they normally would expect.

When I visit people and they offer tea, I get a tea bag. Some tea bags are better than others, but you know what I mean. The questionable quality of most people’s idea of tea is legendary. If you’re offered tea and ask, ‘What sort do you have?’, and the answer is black, peppermint and herbal, you know you’re in for a mediocre tea experience. If they can’t get more specific than “black”, then it’s probably not going to have a digestible taste. Maybe. You might luck out.

I know my visitors today went home fat and happy with cake and above-average tea in their bellies. My work is done here.