I have 4 confessions to make:
1. This is the first year I participated in “Black Friday”, ever.
2. I made up for all previous years of non-participation.
3. I bought a ridiculous amount of tea, including several pu’ers, & a few tea paraphernalia items that I had been drooling over.
4. I also bought myself a Roland AX Synth. Little Terri & I have wanted one for years, and one of the best parts of being a successful self-employed musician is I get to decide how to spend my money! I LOVE new toys!! AND it’s a tax deduction too, cuz you can bet I’ll use it at gigs at some point! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaXw9rWqGtw
So, a busy day: I played a gig, got a massage, went to the Salt Room to improve my breathing, & my AX arrived!! My son Drew & I have been playing with it all evening.
I’ve also been drinking this Shu. There weren’t any instructions, so I started with 5g in 4 oz of water, 2 quick rinses, and off we go! The first couple of steeps were 4 seconds. They looked like coffee, and although they were potent, they were also amazingly smooth & not bitter at all. The initial aroma was of a well aged wood mulch, with a sweetness to the smell.
Flavor-wise, it started out a bit woodsy, with a slight sweet spice, and as I went through the steepings it gradually took on a creamy texture, & a sweeter vanilla flavor. My AX arrived just as I poured maybe the 7 or 8th gaiwan into my cup, and in my excitement, I left it sitting and it got cold. Let me say this, when I finally came back and drank it, it felt like I was drinking a glass of milk! The later steepings have continued to have a creamy texture, and a vanilla caramel sprinkled with sea salt kind of taste. Not to say that it’s actually salty, but more that my taste buds are taking turns twinkling on and off, like they would if salt touched my tongue. So it’s kind of sparkly fairy-dust tasting!
This is, of course, a young puer, so it doesn’t have the skull shining effect (yet) of Old Banzhang or Willow Grove, or some of the others I’ve tried, but it did open my head a little, and now I’m gonna go play my AX! Rock On!
