THE ENERGY DRINK OF CHAMPIONS

During summer weather keeping properly hydrated and energized is extremely important. And that, of course, is where getting swacked to the eye-brows on tea comes in. At work this isn't a problem. I am in the habit of having at least half a dozen cups of Pu Erh throughout the day. Often more than that. Keeps the mouth refreshed when smoking.

At home during prohibition erm, 'shelter in place', it becomes more of an issue. Often reading matter binds me for hours, so that I overlook how close hot water and a tea pot are. Then I overcompensate.

Kung Fu tea, which is made by filling a small teapot all the way with leaves, rinsing them once with near-boiling water to wash out the adhering dust, then steeping the tea briefly -- each successive steeping being slightly longer than the last -- will get the solitary drinker high as a kite. Each steeping brings out different aspects of the tea used, and this method works best with the semi-ferments like Iron Bodhisattva, Iron Lohan, Oolong, and Sui-sin. As you can see from the illustration above, normally there is an assumed plurality of drinkers, hence the four tiny teacups in the rinse basin alongside that pot. Which is where they always are.
It's one of my favourite pots.
So is the darker one.


Such tea pots become better with use. The teas brewed within subtly "ghost" the clay over the years, till eventually they have a unique character and fragrance. The medium brown pot has been in use for a quarter of a century, the other one has a decade and a half of use.

There are three antique pots in the collection that between them must have two centuries of use. And the largest Yi-Hsing teapot I have had over a decade of daily use before I put it aside.

Like a typical pack rat I own more teapots, tea cups, tea bowls, and tea paraphernalia than I need. For a while I had what many pipe smokers would refer to as PAD and TAD, which they think means "Pipe Acquisition Disorder" and "Tobacco Acquisition Disorder".

Pot Acquisition & Tea Acquisition Disorders.


Aficionadism doesn't have to be neurotic.
It's about enjoyment.


Oh, and putting together collections that you can't really show off to anyone, because nobody else "gets it".



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