A new spring at Better Tea...

I know it's been a while since I've posted. To say I was busy, would be trite. And while I have been very busy, truth is I got a little burned out. Not on tea. With the infinite variety, and each cup a path of discovery, it would be impossible. I got burned out with the way I was drinking tea. Instead of finding the simple joy in selecting, steeping, and drinking tea, each cup became a "objective, if not clinical, evaluation of the criteria of the tea, against the common held parameters of type, style, and genre of tea". ( That little bit of prose courtesy of a woman who, by virtue of a check for $1500 and a 3 Day Teamaster Class in a local Holiday Inn, was a "certified tea mistress". More on this idiot and the whole phenomena of tea popularity in the near future.

I found myself reading tea reviews by a lot of other self professed tea geeks. While all of
them had opinions on how the tea rated against a style, or wether this was a better harvest
than last, or did the aroma match the profile, very few of them could answer yes or no, when asked, did you enjoy the tea?


I read every tea site, blog, forum and embraced my smug geekiness, secure that I knew my stuff. I would engage in the obscurest of arguments over arcane technical opinions and facts,
and the arguments became personal. (I regret most of it, except for the great Dan Cong debate of 2010 - @&$!?! you Teagasm47, you pretentious bastard, you would not know a good cup of tea
if it bit you in your pompous ass.

I noticed my thinking, talking, and buying of tea became very much like the dreaded foodie
e culture I despise. Maybe I should be a better person about this, but if it tastes good, I
really don't care where or how or what it came from.

I lost sight of a simple fact: ITS A BLOODY CUP OF TEA! And in doing so, lost the simple,
base pleasure in drawing the water, putting the kettle on the boil, selecting the tea,
choosing the vessel, the cups, waiting for the water to boil, waiting for it to cool, steeping
the tea, and then, feeling the warmth, and the joy, in drinking the tea.

No more.

I enjoy tea. I enjoy helping people enjoy tea. Which was the whole point of this blog and my writing about tea in e first place. From here on, back to basics. We will focus more on the fundamentals, more on the simple calming, healing, invigorating, contemplative, comforting ways of tea. Oh, I'll still write reviews, and we will occasionally veer off into obscurity. But back to the simple, back to helping people "Drink more, better, Tea!"

Mike