02.02.10
Tea mountains
posted by Adam Yusko | 3 comments
In my last post, I talked about culture shocks associated with tea, and in this post, I feel the need to talk to those just starting out on the tea path, and share some advice for the beginner. I often use the analogy of ascending a mountain when it comes to trying tea, which I rather like as it also conjures up the image of mountains covered in tea plants. If you approach your tea education in much the same way you would approach a lengthy mountain trek, you have the right idea.
The world of tea is vast, far too large to quickly acquire enough information to be knowledgeable about all the aspects of tea. Just as you cannot expect to conquer a range of mountains in one day, you cannot expect to learn everything there is to know about tea in a short span of time. Are you going to follow traditional styles of brewing the teas you are drinking as they would be made in their country of origin, or are you going to experiment to discover what works best for you? And will your focus be on the mountain ranges of China, Japan, and India, meaning you are likely sticking to true tea from the Camellia sinensis plant and its varieties, or will you begin with herbals and the like?
My advice is to begin your tea adventure by choosing just one mountain to climb - perhaps a Japanese tea mountain. Narrow your focus to an area that feels almost too specific, but will make it easier to explore a category and learn its intricacies. It helps to limit the amount of miscellaneous or conflicting information you come across.
Specificity improves brewing, since once you are able to lock in how to get consistently good results with a certain tea, you can change those parameters to adapt to specific environmental conditions or a flaw in a tea.
In short, just as you would pick one mountain to climb before starting another, conquer one tea before taking on the next.
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:35 pm
What excellent advise. I wish someone had made such a suggestion to me when I began my journey. Tea represents a life long learning process. Each time I begin to think that I’ve achieved a level of competence, I stumble upon new bits of information. I’m learning to love the journey and to stop focusing on the destination.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:29 pm
I will soon be travelling to Shimada in Shizhouka to see green tea growing areas of Japan alongwith attending Foodex 2010 in March and it will be my first exposure to Japanese tea industry. One grower has invited me to visit his family tea farm where hand made teas are produced and blended.
I look for more information about the activities in that area.
February 3rd, 2010 at 11:51 am
Lochan,
I wish to make it to Japan, and while I have lately been delving greatly into Japanese Teas, this post is more of a metaphor on how I feel someone new to tea should approach tea. As I made the mistake when just starting out of trying to learn everything about every type of tea out there, and in all honesty my brewing was a mess. I lacked certain intuition when it came to brewing, that I feel you gain when focusing on a smaller section of tea, for example Japanese teas, or more specifically Japanese Sencha or Gyokuro.
Adam