June 2022 Tea Subscription - Contemplation

A Prose of Contemplation

June 2022

Thank you for drinking tea with us.

"Contemplation" aims to leads the casual tea drinker into the deeper world of tea, where tea extends beyond its thirst-quenching function, where it provokes thinking and debate, where it awakes inner reflections.

The three teas on feature are a red tea, a green tea and a black tea, namely:

- 2022 Qi Men (Keemun) Red Tea (祁门红茶), 6 gm

- 2022 Lu An Melon Seed (六安瓜片), 6 gm

- 2017 Golden Flowers (金花苻砖), 6 gm

We value green and red teas for their freshness and tenderness. It has often been misunderstood that a red tea needs very high boiling water when the exact reverse is true for very high quality red teas. Keemun Red Tea is fine and elegant. It is in harmony without sharpness or astringency. Like a green tea, you can say that it has low stamina in brewing, often losing flavour after two brews. Conversely, you can experience its short-lived flavour as the transience of life - the truth of impermanence constantly reminding us that good times are temporary and bad times do not last as well. 

Lu An Melon Seed is the only tea in China made without buds and stems. It consists of leaves only, to offer a flavour of mellow freshness without the greenness and astringency associated with green teas. In a sense, it is a misnomer, an alternative style, maybe a renegade, or even a rebel. Standing solely against the world of green tea, it was not despised or relegated. Instead, it rose to the ranks of royal tribute tea during the Qing dynasty. Just like the Ci Xi Empress Dowager who made this tea famous, they are both against the norms.

While red and green teas are usually enjoyed fresh, a black tea is valued for its age. Golden Flowers Brick Tea was made five years ago with leaves from Hubei and fermented with the microorganisms of a special lake in Shaanxi. With umami notes of seaweeds and mushrooms, it is again a very different tea as compared to the fruits and floral excitement we get from red and green teas. This is a grandfather's tea - mellow, earthly, mature, stable, maybe dusty and boring. A tea with probiotic good for digestion, it is does not stir your interest but which it takes care of your health - just like our grandparents or parents, always nagging but quietly caring in small ways unnoticed by us.

 

沉思
散文，2022年6月


谢谢你和我们一起喝茶。

我们重视绿茶和红茶的新甜美和嫩度。人们经常误解红茶需要沸水冲泡，然对于名优红茶而言恰恰相反。
祁门红茶是精致优雅的。它是和谐的，不尖锐没涩味。就像绿茶一般，有人说它冲泡一两次就失去风味。
反思下，你体验到的是它短暂的美味，就像生命的转瞬即逝——宇宙无常的定律不断地提醒我们，生命的
高潮是暂时的，生命的低潮也不会持久。

六安瓜子是中国唯一的无芽无梗的茶。它仅由叶子组成，散发着醇厚新鲜的魅力，绿茶连带的的青涩不明
显。从某种意义上说，它是一个另类，也许是反派，甚至是叛逆者。在绿茶的世界里，它不但没有被鄙视
或贬低，反而在清朝时越身皇家贡茶的行列之中。由于慈禧太后的缘故，这款茶成
名了。它们两者都是违反规范的。

绿茶和红茶尝鲜而黑茶陈放后口感更圆润，滋味会更好。金花符砖熟茶是五年前用湖北的茶叶运到陕西，
在个带有特殊霉菌的湖区发酵而成。有着海藻和蘑菇的特色香气，它与红茶和绿茶的水果香和花香相比是
异类。这是祖父的茶——醇厚、朴实、成熟、稳重，甚至还有尘土味，也无趣乏味。它益于消化，默默地
照顾你的健康，但它不会引起你的兴趣——就像我们的祖父母或父母一样，总是唠叨，但在我们不注意时
默默关心着我们。

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