Behind a little known temple in the back of the mountain is a running stream from the same source as the Tiger Run Spring, the famous sweet tasting water that not only nourishes the tea plants, but brews an unparalleled cup of Dragonwell. This secret water source is where all the tea masters like Mr. Dai go to get water to brew their own tea. Free from tourists, he said. So I can not disclose its…
Since my blog was going to be held hostage anyway, my self censorship is now short lived. Autocracy, intent to control information and people’s minds at all costs, complete lack of any long term vision of building a country of fulfilling lives of creativity and value, its people only existing to be ruled as easily as possible…. I suppose that’s pretty much what most countries and their leaders…
The trouble is, I am in different places all the time, and only pockets of holes in the wall allows me to post. It has become more and more difficult to post anything on this blog for a couple of days now. Even self censorship has not yielded any results.
Using the right water is the single most essential ingredient, besides having great leaves, for tea.
‘Vertically challenged’ takes on a whole new meaning as I fought to remain standing vertically, not having slept properly for about 36 hours at this point, the sweet scent of mountain trees and tea bushes, the sound of melodic warbler birds echoing across the valley, tea pickers chatting happily, lulling me rapidly to sleep. In the meantime, Mr. Dai challenged me to distinguish between leaf buds from the original seeded bushes vs the ‘improved’ Dragonwell #43. It’s easy to differentiate between the round clumps of the thousand year old root stock of the original seed grown bushes, from the hedge like modern varietals. But on a leaf bud level, one has to pay careful attention. Mr. Wei says many tea masters have gotten confused and fired the wrong picking, the harvesters sometimes even make the mistake, and some devious producers make that mistake intentionally to blend the two together. But a discerning palate will be able to tell the much smoother mouthfeel and substantial complexity from the seed grown stock. The ‘improved’ version, very often, is not. I learned that the new # 43 was designed to flush earlier and create crops for the greedier patrons. Mother Nature has a way of applying some humility. This year, the sudden snow killed a lot of the early flush buds, leaving the seed grown plants to peacefully take its time.