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

retirement of the trusty orange flask

my old tea traveller gear...remember Nokia?

So, I was sent down a road of nostalgia when I read a recent blogpost by LattéTeaDah called Three Good Reasons to BYOTea, but it's likely not for the reason you might think.

If you're going to be known for something, travelling with my tea is as good a thing as any. It's resourceful, it's practical, and best of all it includes a flask of steaming tea. So when Xavier referred to me in the comments of the above-mentioned post as someone who's 'always ready' with his tea, I was undoubtedly honoured.

However, the actual reason I got nostalgic is that in my earlier life as a musician I was once on a tour that went through both St Louis and Kansas City. I'd spent quite a bit of time in the former, but I was thrilled to finally see a part of the country where my dad had spent some of his formative years. Tea was the last thing on my mind on that tour, but now I'm really curious what one might find in the way of shops selling loose-leaf tea.

Would I trust that I could show up and find something, though? Not on your life. Kansas City is great for barbeque. For tea? Not so much.

So that's where the travelling with my tea comes in. Years ago, I wrote a piece for Leafboxtea (thefolk who bring you Tea Trade these days) called Tips for traveling with Tea. Check it out. You might like some of the ideas.

Which reminds me...I really should revisit the topic. How has my tea gear changed? I do have a bit of sad news to report. Several months ago, I had to retire the trusty orange flask (pictured above) that'd seen me on so many journeys. It was leaking like a sieve, and once that starts happening...well, a flask that actually holds liquid is sort of the whole point, right?

I considered some sort of ceremony. Then I thought, 'You really are a daffy one, aren't you Lahikmajoe? A send off for your trusty orange flask?' I refrained from any such nonsense. It was a constant companion for quite a number of years. Like any respectable train traveller, I'd purchased sandwich boxes and canvas bags in the identical colour.

Now? I have a nice selection of orange accessories that went with the retired flask, and a beautiful, brand new, stainless steel one. As beautiful and practical as the new flask is, it's horribly mismatched. Oh well. I'm not ready to jettison the orange accessories yet. Please...not just yet.

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. 

tea obsessives handling the leaves

arriving in Weimar

Things are afoot hereabouts.  I mentioned that I was talking to a tea review website a few weeks ago and considering writing for them.  After telling you about it, I really should've mentioned that I decided to do it.  I'll link to them when I write proper reviews there, and give you more stories and whimsy here.  It's certainly what you've come to expect, isn't it?

Here's a link to The Tea Review Blog.  You'll be seeing plenty from me over there soon enough.

Another thing I've decided to start doing here is something a bit like the interviews I read on other blogs.  Rather than it always being in a question and answer format, I might ask someone to write a guest blogpost or even print out a conversation I have with a tea seller or fellow tea obsessive.

Got to thinking about it after a very interesting chat I had with a guy who happened to be both.  We were  in his tea shop in Weimar this week, and afterwards I began to marvel at how many incredibly passionate people there are in tea.

When I travel to places both here in Germany and farther afield, I make a point of searching out both tea shops and nice places to actually have a cup of tea.  More often than not, I find myself deep in conversation with astoundingly passionate tea people.

Think about it.   You have a shop where you greet people throughout the day with wildly different levels of experience regarding tea.  Many have stumbled in off the street curious how a whole shop could be dedicated to something they associate with a simple bag of leaves.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have tea snobs who saunter into your store and assume that they know more about tea than you ever will. Then there's an entire range of people between those two poles.

Peter (at Tea Trade) and I have talked about the incredible novelty of this whole loose-leaf tea endeavour several times.  The fact that the customer is not only able to interact manually with the product, but that it's actually an integral part of the whole process.  Handling the leaves, I mean.

So that's what I've been thinking about recently.  The remarkable nature of what we're doing here.  I'm sure model railroad enthusiasts and stamp collectors and Magic: The Gathering World Champions are all very passionate, as far as it goes.  But I'm not into those things, so I don't get remotely interested in their passion.

Oh, one last thing.  Alex Zorach wrote something funny (and mentioned this blog in the process), so I thought I'd send you all over there.  Tea, Like a G6.

Enjoy!

meeting old friends for the first time

Several months ago, I mentioned how excited I was to host some tea folk in my adopted hometown of Munich. The day has come and this weekend different people in the Tea Trade community will descend upon the Bavarian capitol.

What a joy not just to show off the surprising variety of tea shops here, but to be able to walk through the small passageways of the old city and remark on what's left of the medieval city.

We met up at the Tushita Teehaus, which I wrote about in a general sense of well-being.

In some ways, you'd expect seeing people you've never met would be unquestionably awkward. Nevertheless, the strange reality of virtual friendships means that some people you 'know' online have a much better picture of you than you'd first think. Meeting the Tea Trade folk was like reconnecting with old friends.

There was good natured ribbing that whatever was drunk and talked about would find its way onto my blog. All in good time. We did laugh about how terribly seriously we sometimes take ourselves. Or at least I did. Laugh at myself, I mean.

In the next several days, there's going to be plenty more of the same. There are a few surprises planned for the weekend and I'm sure in the next few months you'll hear both here and over at teatra.de what things are being cooked up in our corner of the tea world. You've been summarily warned.



the Theatine Church (Theatinerkirche) viewed from the Hofgarten.