I ate chocolate last night. It was the deep dark dairy free & barely sweet kind from a local chocolatier, Kakao. I also ate a few bites of coconut milk ice cream. I normally don’t eat any sweets, not even a lot of fruit, as it isn’t good for me, but the revelry of Pirates brought out a surge of daring, bold, & reckless behaviors in me.
NaNoWriMo began at midnight, & I WAS going to write my first 2000 words (like I did last year), but I’ve also been working on making sure I get enough sleep & do my yoga, so I went to bed instead. I slept like a vampire at dawn, & woke a little groggy at 8:00, with my guts & head achy, ah the price we pay for sugar consumption. But I did my yoga, meditation, & journaling. I ate my BAB (Paleo-speak for Big Ass Breakfast), I taught my first student of the day & we shared a pot of English Breakfast (two leaves & a bud). Now on with the day. I wanted something deep, dark, & grounding. Plus I’ve been reading David Duckler’s notes on his trip to China, & the comments from Wang Yanxin about using more tea for less time. I also read the notes on the Verdant site regarding this tea.
I’ll admit, I’ve had this tea sample for awhile. David included it as a freebie in one of my orders & I’ve been a little nervous about trying it. It is described as "musty, sparkling, linen, cedar, stone, rock sugar. Normal people probably wouldn’t want to drink that! LOL!
I opened the package to find a most beautiful tea, deep mahogany, nice & leafy, a slightly musty aroma that left my nose with a salty sensation (not smell). Following the XingYang workshop recommendations, I put the entire 5oz sample in my 4oz Gaiwan, gave it a quick rinse, but only steeped for 1 minute. It tasted like a revelation. 2nd – 6th steeps for 2 minutes. I’ve drank them all & savored every moment of each sip. This is what I needed this morning. This will carry me into my day. I have no words for this tea, it tastes exactly as described. It is so smooth, so clean, it feels ancient like the earth.
Steeps 7 – 9 @ 3 minutes each: just wonderful. I feel that this tea is more about sensations & images than taste. A bright sparkling quality has risen, & I’m loving it. For me, today, it is about Mindfulness, groundedness, acceptance of myself, & Tea. I love this tea.
