Good bye Taiwan! Heading to Japan today with the tour group. The hospitality and warmth of the people in Taiwan were appreciated by all. My good brother Alfonso says, after all the good food there, ’ I feel cheated after all these years in the U.S.!’ A bit of real food was such a revelation.
Japan and I are getting off at the right foot. Hokkaido soft serve ice cream first thing in the morning. As far as counterbalancing the stress of being a human being goes, this cone here pretty much singlehandedly does the trick.
Stay tuned for the tea adventures to live again this Oct 10! Traveling to China, Taiwan, Japan again. I will be bringing a tour group with me this fall.
The upcoming tea tour is happening Oct 17 through 25th, stay tuned for the fall harvest blogs!
We have 2 spots left for the tea tour, contact us at info@teance.com if you want to go!
Uji Cha, the best of Japan probably, but to me, most definitely. The balance of shibumi bitter and umami savory is bold, complex, memorable. The astringent greens of more commercialized regions are merely thin and bitter in comparison, with a sharp, shale aftertaste. The Uji teas are viscuous, broth like, with a mesmerizing dance that deserves meditation. But its exquisite liqueur is also unassuming, like the people who make it, and the mad river that runs through it- the Ujikawa- that’s clean, deep, and full of fossil minerality.
Kanpeki 完璧means perfection. That definition suits Japanese-ness more than anything else they strive for. It’s in the blood, so to speak, to always do a job well done, to give it one’s all, and to accept that although perfection is like the infinity curve, still, one’s life only has meaning when at least, effort is put in to try to reach perfection. Context is everything when you try to understand an old but living culture. If you don’t reach kanpeki, then die trying.
What is perfection in tea?