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I haven’t reviewed Laoshan Black in some time. I love this tea!

I’ve always been a bit of an experimenter, (or eccentric some would say). If I have an idea, instead of chuckling to myself and dismissing it, I sometimes carry it out.
Usually what I dream up is harmless.
For instance: One time I drove down Skyway (Paradise,CA) blowing bubbles from the Moon Roof of my Volkswagen Super Beetle. (It looked cool!)
But there have been more dangerous occasions.
Another example:
One time I thought I’d be slick and get a cheap haircut by going to a barbershop. The shop smelled of Ultra Sheen and Vitalis (This was when I was a Vista Volunteer in Philadelphia in the 60’s)
The barbershop had two swivel chairs placed on a platform towards the back of the room. I was seated in one chair facing the front door. There were old men sitting in their regular chairs and young men coming in to look at the dumb California girl in her mini-skirt getting a haircut. Clip, clip, clip.
When all of a sudden an angry man busted in the door with a gun!
I froze in my chair but didn’t change my expression one bit (you can’t look scared). I was a neon sign blinking ‘shoot me’ sitting in that chair! However, the gunman was looking for someone who wasn’t in the shop…(but I think I surprised him too and he shot me a shocked glance and left)! That shook me up for a day!

Why am I telling you these stories? (I wanted to tell a story as I always do for one thing…ha) I also wanted to say something about taking chances, doing something on a whim. (When I was young I didn’t think about the chances I was taking like I do now.)

Today while I was getting ready for Church I thought, “Hey, why don’t I bring my tea things with me and make some tea during brunch after the service?!” (That sounded brilliant!)
I gathered some Laoshan Black, a teapot and everything needed for brewing ‘proper tea’.

After Liturgy, I hurried to the Community Hall and heated water, and set up my serving spot. Everything was ready.
I poured water on the tea leaves, sat at the end of a long table and invited several friends to come have some tea with a stupid smile on my face I’m sure!

No response! The best laid plans of mice and men as they say…
I got a couple of comments from my two old Brooklyn friends…
“Wha? We got coffee hea.” Later Peter did come over and had some tea with me…(God Bless Peter!)
I offered tea to the young lady next to me. She commented that the tea didn’t need sugar or anything (points for her) and that it was obviously a good tea (more points).
A man looked at me like I was crazy when I offered him tea. (The devils work! (He was from Greece and unless this was Chamomile and he was sick…no chance he was drinking tea!).
Finally a younger man in his 20’s came by with a light in his eyes.
“TEA?”, he asked.
“Yes!”, I said with a smile.
I let him smell the leaves.
“Um, rich!”, he said. He liked my tea!
Then I opened a bag of Oolong that I had with me and he swooned.
“Look for me next week if you’d like to try some of this”, I said.

So week one of my whim…my experiment didn’t go over very well. But, all I need is to ‘convert’ one person, then another and soon…I’ll have a little group of tea drinkers on Sunday mornings!

One thing for sure, everyone looked surprised at the scent of the leaves, the smell of the wet leaves and the smooth cocoa flavor of the tea. It was as though a new door opened and they didn’t know how to process the experience. I remember when that happened to me the first time.

This was a whim and things don’t always turn out the way you think they will. At first I was a little disappointed, but I’m not giving up. I’ve decided to keep bringing my tea things and see how it goes.