Often the question emerges, “why tea?” Fair enough. Tea offers a simple means by which to learn some of the principles of Chinese herbalism. Primary among them is that food has properties that affect the body to its benefit or detriment. These properties aren’t so much the technicalities offered by nutritional science, such as proteins, vitamins and so on. Rather, these principles might be viewed as expressions of personality types, such as hot or cold, draining or quenching. Much of this knowledge is quite intuitive. In any case, pu’er tea allows us to engage a bit in this discussion.
During our last Bamboo & Loquat meeting, we explored the neutral and slightly warming properties of ripes. The last two sampled were best received. One being the ’06 Banzhang Thick Brick. The other was a ’13 bamboo stick, which has not been posted as I only have one. The spicy notes of the former started to gain some momentum after about the fifth infusion. The malted, menthol sweetness of the latter was particularly evident during the the first four rounds.
Well, the waiting game is on. Our next meeting will be on the Saturday of the third weekend in June. It’ll be our 2nd Extravaganzaaa. Chances are good that the premium Dragon Pearls and a few loose selections will have arrived by then. In the meantime, if you care to host a tea event or you’re aware of a spot that might be interested, by all means let me know, also take a gander at the offerings on Universotea. A few new items have been posted and they’d love to make your acquaintance.