Matcha Genmaicha

(Image of Matcha Genmaicha tea courtesy of T Ching)

I wasn't sure which tea to start with when ordering from my new favorite website, T Ching, so I went with the tea currently displayed on the store's home page. Its name? Matcha Genmaicha. Its description?

This is a traditional specialty tea created from the combination of sencha leaves and stems and roasted rice. The teas are made from quality sencha from the second harvest. The tea leaves are mixed with organic toasted rice (GENMAI) and fresh organic Matcha powder. In the cup - a heavenly green color with a delicious toasted, nutty flavor. A great transition tea for coffee drinkers and other newbies to premium whole leaf teas. You will love it.

Well. That describes me - I may not be a newbie to tea in general, but I am a newbie to premium whole leaf teas. So I ordered the smallest amount possible (of course - what if I don't like it?!) and it came today. Actually, it probably came a few days ago, but I have been very lazy about checking my mail lately.

I was a little nervous, I admit. After learning all these things about the proper way to brew tea, and probably lacking the best quality equipment and the purest water, what if I made it wrong and it tasted awful? Green tea has never been a favorite with me, but I was taking a chance here.

The packaging was a cardboard tube, and inside the tube was a small paper bag containing my tea. I smelled it. It smelled really bad. My fear grew. Would I have to admit that I disliked a certain premium whole leaf tea? I, who chides anyone who says "I don't like that tea" and tells them they're just not preparing it correctly?

There were basic instructions/recommendations on the back of the bag including how much tea to use for 8 ounces, the temperature of the water, and the steeping time.

I have never held a meat thermometer in my electric kettle as the water heats up, but I did today. As soon as it hit 165, I poured it into my mug to measure how much tea would fill up the mug and then I poured it from my mug into my "steeper". I don't really know what the proper name for it is - it's one of those nifty loose-tea-individual-cup things where the tea steeps, and then you put this contraption on top of your mug and the tea, minus leaves, comes out!

The instructions said to steep it for thirty seconds. So I counted by "one-one thousand, two-one thousand" till "thirty-one thousand" and hurriedly released the tea into my mug.

The tea was cloudy. It looked weird. I was prepared for the worst. I carried it over to my computer and opened Internet Explorer, then took a sip.

And I actually smiled, because it tasted really good. It was just the right temperature to take a sip big enough to warm all the way down, but not enough to scald. It tasted homey, comforting. I think it's the roasted rice that gives it that element. As I've written this, I've made two more infusions from the leaves. And this tea just plain makes me happy. (Note: I made 5 infusions. The last one was as clear as water, but still had the comforting, toasty taste.)

I'm guessing these 50 grams will last me a month, since you can make multiple infusions. After it's gone I'll buy something else random from T Ching. Check out the T Ching Blog or, if you're feeling greedy or covetous and want to feed your desire for things that are not yet yours, visit the T Ching Store.

Yes, this is blatant advertising. No, they are not paying me for this. No, I do not feel one bit of remorse. Go and have some tea!

Cleaning

(This is Pokey, my little cat that went missing last September. She loved to sleep in a clean sink.)

Here is how I clean: I invite somebody over. Then I take a nap, watch a movie, and goof around on the computer. Ten minutes before they are supposed to arrive, adrenaline starts pumping as I realize my company is going to see what a slob I really am. I make the apartment halfway presentable. When company comes, I apologize for "the mess" (even though it looks much better than it did before) and proceed to clean while talking to them.

That sums it up. Other than that, I get into crazy "cleaning moods" sometimes where I decide I absolutely must scrub the inside of the refridgerator or organize the TV stand or detail clean something more obscure. I vigorously clean and scrub that item, feeling as if I've accomplished something, while ignoring the dirty dishes stacked on the stove, cat litter on the bathroom floor, and twenty loads of laundry to do.

That is why you are not going to get a post today. I cannot justify writing about something as elegant and proper as tea when I am surrounded by unspeakable filth. Instead, I am going to continue cleaning. (Though, a cup of tea does make for an excellent reward for finishing goals! It is difficult, however, to make a cup of tea when there are no clean dishes.)

Raw Material

Image courtesy of John A. Adam.

"When a man who has been perverted from his youth and taught that cruelty is the right thing, does some tiny little kindness, or refrains from some cruelty that he might have committed,...he may, in God's eyes, be doing more than you and I would do if we gave up life itself for a friend.

"It is as well to put this the other way round. Some of us who seem quite nice people may, in fact, have made so little use of a good heredity and a good upbringing that we are really worse than those whom we regard as fiends...That is why Christians are told not to judge. We see only the results which a man's choices make out of his raw material. But God does not judge him on the raw material at all, but on what he has done with it."

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (in the chapter titled Morality and Psychoanalysis)

Upon reading these words, my first instinct is to think of some of the people I don't like very much and think of all the things that could have gone wrong in their upbringing to make them the way they are. I then congratulate myself for thus "excusing" them of their behavior. At the same time, if I can't seem to find a "reason" for their behavior, the temptation is to say, "Well, why couldn't they have turned out nicer/kinder/smarter/more patient/more loving?" (And of course, there's the inaudible "like me" at the end of that rhetorical question.)

The bottom line of course, is that not only does God judge what each individual has done with his raw material, but God is the only one who knows exactly what that raw material is. Example: A pastor's daughter who attends church, is involved in various ministries, has only Christian friends, is pursuing a Biblical education, and aspires to be a missionary may be viewed as someone who should be kinder than the average human being. Men enjoy her company, but as soon as she senses a relationship getting serious, she breaks it off abruptly. God is the only one who sees that it takes great courage for her to spend time in the company of men at all because she was molested.

Heck - I don't even know what my raw material is! I think I do, sometimes, but I learn new things about myself constantly, and I have no reason to suppose I am finished.

Now that I think about it, often times I don't even know what I'm doing with my raw material, whatever it is. I am not aware of my own output. I do not hear the things I say. I do not think how I could better use my time.

In any case, I want to return to a point I brought up earlier - that I try to find problems in peoples' past that will "excuse" them of their current behavior. First of all, just because someone is predisposed to a certain sin does not forgive them from it. Of ten sins, one man may struggle with one in particular and may find it easy to avoid the others. Another man may not struggle with that particular sin but has a difficult time with the others.

Second, it is not me who "excuses" behavior. God is the only one who can forgive sins. I can only forgive wrongs done against me. I can only love people. I do not need to find reasons to put them in my good graces - I only need to do it. The gossip and curiosity in me wants to know all the dirty problems people have gone through or are going through. There is no reason for me to know unless the person has another reason for sharing. My responsibility is only to love.

I'll leave you with this thought: "raw material" changes, for better or for worse. You can only do the best with what you have to work with, but "what you have to work with" will grow or diminish in time depending on the small choices you make every single day. So don't feel sorry for yourself for your lack of "raw material" - just keep building it up!

T Ching and Water Preparation

I recently stumbled across the first "teaworthy" site to deserve a place under my "links". T Ching is a tea blog/tea store/tea company maintained by multiple people who know what they're talking about, or at least look like they do. Browsing their posts is a pleasure, and motivates me to put at least some thought and effort into my work here.

Browsing their store, on the other hand, brings out the worst of my greediness. Would someone like to give me money for teas and tea accessories? I am in love!

I can't remember how I found their site, but the post that originally came up in my search was about Water Preparation for the perfect cup of tea.

I have told you before that I am not very deserving of the title "tea snob", and here I must confess that I thought the snobbiest tea snob would insist on filtered water, and nothing snobbier. How wrong I was! It's always somewhat freeing to learn something new - while humbling and sometimes embarrassing, it reminds me that I'm human and brings me down from any pedestals I had climbed onto.

The author of the post, Aaron, starts out by mentioning the two most obvious mistakes in tea water preparation, and they are both mistakes I make. I have admitted to you before that I do them for the sake of time, but now I feel ashamed:

"I have myself ruined countless teas, and been to so many tea shops and tea houses here in Asia where nice tea was ruined by either poor quality water or cheap, electric kettles."

Me and my tap hard water! And my Target electric kettle I was so proud of, that heats the water so quickly! I feel very un-tea!

"It is important to remember that even good quality mountain spring water will be influenced by the vessel used to heat it. Also, there is tremendous variation in the quality of heat sources available, from electric induction plates to oil or even charcoal. I have elsewhere gone through the different kinds of kettles in detail..."

Can you believe I've never seriously thought about these things? Sure, I can see starting with purified, distilled, or filtered water - but metal or plastic - I have never thought of this! Heat sources? I never thought it made a difference - true, I would only microwave tea water if there were no other options available, but oil? Charcoal? And different kinds of kettles - wow. (I looked for the "different kinds of kettles" post for a bit and couldn't find it - I'll let you know when I do!)

Aaron goes on to talk about various heat methods, including different types of charcoal, but stresses that the water needs to be heated quickly, however it is heated.

Here was one of the most fascinating pieces of the post, though:

"Some tea masters and I experimented in several ways when I first got the [silver] kettle. First we drank water from several kettles including glass, clay, etc. and found the silver induced water to be sweeter, softer and taste cleaner. We then had a session with a tea that is well known to all of us and found that the same tea was twice as good when brewed with this purified water. Also, we found that teas brewed with water from the silver teapot were more “patient” as the Chinese say, yielding almost twice as many steepings. I have even repeated these experiments using only water and people who don’t drink tea, with the same results. Even my elderly tai chi teacher could choose which cup had the water from the silver pot every single time, closing his eyes as we mixed them up. "

I want to say "I am now going to buy a silver pot", but I feel very low on the tea snob totem pole right now and I think I should make more of an effort to educate myself before I splurge on a big tea purchase. I am going to order a sampler of tea from this company and experiment with it. The items in their shop are relatively inexpensive, and you know that these people know tea. I emailed them for some details on a sampler and they responded right away.

I am planning on buying a faucet Brita filter. That's a step in the right direction, right? I don't like drinking my hard water very much anyway, and it leaves scum inside my tea kettle that can only be removed with multiple soakings in bleach. I know hard water is supposedly not unhealthy and mine doesn't taste unpleasant. I just want filtered water!

Before I buy a Brita faucet filter, please let me know if you have any recommendations for faucet water filters, or if you are a true tea snob who has experimented with different waters for teas, tell me what works for you!

If you see any more teaworthy sites, let me know! I think my IQ goes up a point for every hour I spent on a teaworthy site! Or at least my snobbiness.

Gordo: Member of the Family

Above: My two cats, Gordo and Jasmine (also known as Estupida, Stinky, Little Cat, Little, Dumb Head, Stupid Cat, Jazz, Jazzy, and Kitty)

Let me introduce you to the love of my life, Gordo. I prepare his food, pick his fleas, and sleep in his bed. Or he sleeps in mine; I'm not sure. And if he happens to be taking a nap on my stomach, well, I won't get up - not even if the phone rings or if my legs fall asleep.

Gordo is an old ugly cat I rescued from the animal shelter. He is fat, hence the name. He has no hair on the back of his legs or on his belly because he has licked it all off, and he has sores on the insides of his legs from biting them. His bare pink belly hangs almost to the ground sometimes. Even his butt is fat, and he likes to go around with his tail up high. The sight is not pretty, and you know that if he knew he looked like that, he would be very embarrassed.

Still, he'll eat anything - leftover green bean juice from my green beans, noodles and carrots left in my bowl after a bowl of soup, even chewed bits of tough asparagus I was unable to swallow. He's really sweet - very cuddly, easy to please, lethargic. Watching a sleeping cat will make the hardiest insomniac sleepy. He gets along well with my other cat. Generally, though, he doesn't get excited, and all he does is eat, sleep, and occasionally run away from the bully neighbor cats.

Today I splurged on a small catnip pillow I spotted at the grocery store. The package claimed the pillow contained "the world's most potent catnip". When I came into my door and Gordo greeted me, I said "Gordo, I have something for you" and he went crazy before I had even dug through my bags for it. He probably thought I had brought him was something to eat, because I haven't gotten him catnip in a while.

If you have never seen a cat on catnip, you are missing out.

He tore at the pillow with his teeth and his claws, drooling and growling. He rolled over and over as he tore at it, but occasionally paused to lick it vigorously. Sometimes he held the pillow between his paws and rubbed it all over his face; other times, he put the pillow on the floor and scooted it forward with his nose.

My other little cat came over to see what he was doing, and he paused to swipe at her (very out of character for him - just look at the photo!) and returned to his toy. She sat and stared at him, puzzled.

I stared too, though I felt slightly embarrassed. Here was my gentlemanly, serene cat on a drug I gave him, and it was making him behave in a very undignified manner! I wondered how it would end - would he ever find satisfaction? He was trying to get the stuff on his skin, trying to eat it, trying to smell it. He wasn't succeeding in ripping open the pillow.

Then, suddenly, his catnip-orgasm subsided. He laid down on the carpet, exhausted. Relieved to see him acting normally, my little cat thought he might want to play and sprightly leaped over him, but he ignored her.

I have so many questions. What was he trying to do to the poor catnip? It was like he couldn't figure out if it was a baby (licking), a food (drooling), a rival (biting), or something nice smelling, like body spray (rubbing it on himself, burying his nose in it). If he had succeeded in ripping open the pillow, would his satisfaction have come sooner?

Is it too shocking to compare catnip with sex?

I'll say no more, but think about it. You know it's true. Next time he goes crazy with the catnip, I just might step out of the room and give him some privacy.

And how does this post relate to tea?

Tea can be a great thing to drink before sex.

Actually, I wouldn't know that.

Let me try another avenue:

Catnip is a member of the mint family.

Some herbal infusions are made with mint.

Some mint herbal infusions are actually quite tasty, especially before bed - calming effect, and all.

I think I'll have a cup now.

Skipping

(Photo courtesy of http://www.dreamstime.com)

"It is a very silly idea that in reading a book you must never 'skip'. All sensible people skip freely when they come to a chapter which they find is going to be no use to them. In this chapter I am going to talk about something which may be helpful to some readers, but which may seem to others merely an unnecessary complication. If you are one of the second sort of readers, then I advise you not to bother about this chapter at all but to turn on to the next."

-C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

I'm not sure I agree with this. I like the principle, but I can't think of a situation where I would think it best to 'skip' - that is, where "I come to a chapter which I find is going to be of no use to me." How can you honestly know what the content of a chapter is unless you read it?

Of course, the title of the chapter may "give away" the content, or the author may say in the opening sentence, "In this chapter I am going to talk about..." But how do you know that the information contained in the chapter won't be helpful unless you read it?

Whenever I read anything, I mentally decide which material I am going to consider helpful and which I will read and dismiss or ignore (keepable and dismissable). And, of course, these will vary on the person - not everyone will place the same value on every piece of material they read! But I cannot dismiss or ignore material unless I read it first!

Even if I think I know what a chapter or a section is going to be "about", why would I skip it? Am I so certain it can contain no helpful information?

Others may be able to discern when it is best to skip and do it well, but I cannot. This is mainly because of my own lack of self-discipline. Sometimes I choose read books strictly for the learning, when it would be more "fun" to read a book that is written strictly for entertainment. Though I do enjoy the "learning" book, it takes more time and discipline to get through than the other sort of book. I don't skip because a) I don't want to miss a nugget of "keepable" material in the midst of a load of "dismissable" material, and b) if I do skip, it will be very hard to keep myself from skipping more and more, justifying as I go, but with the intent of getting to the "fun" book sooner.

I do skip sometimes, but I never say I have "read" a book that I have "skimmed".

Do you skip? Why? And how do you decide when to skip? I am not a very good reader and would like to know the secret!

Bubbles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Image courtesy of John A. Adam. (Thank you!)

You may have guessed that I have a "Type-A" personality. I like things to be predictable, in order, and in a bulleted list. When something throws off my perceived "way things should be", it does not rest well with me.

I don't regard this as "just my personality", because though it can be a valuable thing to have in the sense of self-discipline and getting things done, it can get in the way of other things that, by nature, are not predictable and cannot be orderly. There are some aspects of this that I make conscious efforts to change.

Sometimes (this is my little secret) I do spontaneous things that are (gasp!) not on my list!

The other day I was rinsing off dishes before I put them in the dishwasher. One pan required a lot of scrubbing, and I poured in some dish soap to help with the job. Well! I put in way too much dish soap, and the bubbles instantly rose to the rim of the pan and began spilling out into the sink. I dumped the pan's water and refilled it - more bubbles! I dumped the water again, and this time I set the pan aside, for now I had a whole sink full of thousands of bubbles. They made a Rice Krispies sound as they popped slowly, but showed no signs of going down the drain.

I had my list of cleaning tasks. I had my estimated time it would take to complete them. My schedule was planned out, and though it included "fun" things, the "fun" was preplanned and would not come until I had completed other items on my list, and rightly so!

I spent the next half hour running a little stream of water from the faucet, coaxing the bubbles down the drain. I moved the faucet around in order to "help" the bubbles in the right direction. I filled my palm with water and drizzled it over some of the heavier bubbled areas.

No doubt I could have simply left the sink full of bubbles and they would have popped on their own. During that time I could have accomplished three other items on my list. But here is where I can happily say my priorities changed. I decided I needed to have some spontanaeity, some "fun" that seemed fun to me and probably wouldn't to anyone else.

I felt like I had accomplished something significant when the last bubble slipped down the drain. I had a silly grin on my face. This was my secret little source of joy for the day. This was me being a little kid.

If you're normally a "bulleted list" person, do something spontaneous today! Be a kid! Stop and smell the roses because you can! Dance! Sing! Go on a bike ride! If you're feeling especially adventurous, go on a walk and skip! It's sunny here today, and that probably accounts for my good mood. And I am going to sit on the step outside and eat ice cream!