Breakfast, and a history of my tea experiences

This is the good life. I'm sitting here at my mac drinking freshly made vegetable juice, Da Hong Pao, and eating toast with marmalade next to a couple curried eggs. Life cannot get any better than this. Well, it could, but Dale's upstairs and still sleeping. Some morning Quirkle might make this better than surfing the web for new teas I haven't had yet.

I did a menu of teas for myself (and any guests that come over, or for future "tea parties") and realised that I have over thirty teas/tisanes right now. Some, I don't have much of left, while others are in larger bags or tins. I honestly don't "need" any more tea right now. The Da Hong Pao I'm drinking right now reminds me that I'd like to order some, though... it's very close to being the last of it, if drunk in small quantities (no pots for me right now) and it's one of my favourites. I am pretty certain that it's better than Feng Huan Dan Cong, which I felt was very similar until I drank that for a while and went back to Da Hong Pao. Da Hong is definitely more rounded for me, if you'll call it that. Smooth but with lots going on.

I know, I know, I'm such a tea snob. I cannot help it. It's the entire experience for me... I've not gone as far as the naturalists or hippy types or anything but man, tea is awesome. There's so much more to it than I could ever learn, which totally surprised me when I began to try. My thoughts about tea growing up were, "Salada seems to be redder and tastier than Lipton. Mum, can we get more Salada?" Eventually I discovered Twinings' variety pack, and found out that Earl Grey is absolutely to die for. Flavoured Tea, who woulda thunkit. Shortly after I delighted in Lady Earl Grey and eventually discovered that there were a gazillion tea companies on the shelf.

Then one day, someone at work was drinking something called "Loose Leaf." I'd never heard of that before. She insisted it was better than the bagged teas. I tried some. It was a Twinings Green Earl Grey. It was really, really good... smooth for a green, which I'd tried in a bag by then and despised. Couldn't find it in the store, though, so I gave up on looseleafs and went on with my Earl Grey and English Breakfast. Years later, Dale goes and gives me this weird steeping cup from Adagio and a few looseleafs to go with it. Whoa, I thought. You can buy looseleafs ONLINE!! I soon became a fan of Adagio and the next thing I knew, I had tried just about every one of their sampler packs and a good portion of their blacks and oolongs, as well. But it didn't stop there. I soon found out about teapots with mesh strainers that sit inside. And then Dale's mum gave me a Tetsubin and I found out that the Jasmine I had been having trouble with FLUORISHED in the cast iron. Suddenly, it wasn't just about the tea... it was about the vessels it comes in.

My friend Jen surprised me with a gaiwan a year or so ago. "What's this?" I thought, having never seen one. "Well, you're so into tea," she explains. "It's a gaiwan." More research. Ali Shan became my staple in that thing because I liked to watch the leaves unfurl in it... no strainer needed because it doesn't get too bitter and I could simply keep dumping water in due to its long lasting "infusionability."

I quickly found myself surrounded by five teapots, a gaiwan, several single-serve infusers, a teaball, a stainless mug strainer with cover, a plastic IngenuiTea, and a few "teabag caddies" which I used as "strainer caddies." Then, a few months ago, I discovered a nice gong fu set at a tea shoppe an hour north from here and bought it on the spot. I had not realised that my beloved Ali Shan had been looking for this set all its life!!

Anywho, now I own the aforementioned, a donated copper kettle for boiling my water, an additional Gaiwan with matching cups and a strainer (I think it's a gaiwan, despite the fact it has the strainer and a spout of sorts), a pewter tea cup, little bowls of varying materials, a pretty silver teapot for decorative purposes, Turkish tea glasses, and a travel gong fu set with porcelain tea ware instead of the yi xing clay. Oh, and an insulated carafe that Dale's mum gave me... it's excellent for holding hot water for hours, so I can take my tea upstairs and slowly consume cup after cup without having to keep heating water. Very useful for gong fu, too.

Fun, fun!!!!!