I love to talk about all the “gifts of tea” and for the next 12 days you try to express these gifts one day at a time.
Today’s gift of tea: taste and aroma
Ahhh…the peachy notes of Phoenix oolong; the intoxicating honey aroma of Oriental Beauty; the beautiful floral notes of Darjeeling; the toastiness of traditional Tie Guan Yin; the punjuent taste and smell of Pu’erh. Wow…this is a tea tour without ever leaving home.
Taste is the most obvious gift and the first thing people think of when tea is mentioned: it’s a drink and therefore should taste like something. The challenge is that quite a few people only think of tea as black or green, and have not explored the wide breadth of true tea—tasting and smelling the fabulous crafted teas from China, India, Sri Lanka, Japan and Taiwan (not to mention our own Hawaii).
Experiencing specialty teas (which encompasses visual as well as taste and aroma) takes your life into a new dimension– you can’t taste and smell these teas without 5,000 years of history, culture and craft invading your senses. Get beyond the yellow and red box and try some loose-leaf single origin, unflavored teas.
Teas gifts require presence and a little time—share the experience with friends and family: it’s cheap and legal pleasure!
