Philosophy on Tea Drinking

Lately I haven't been blogging. That's because I've devoted more time to tea drinking. You might ask, whats there to spend so much time on tea? Isn't it at most learning the proper steps to making tea? Well my answer is no. Let me tell you why as you read on.

Basically I find tea drinking very much similar to experiences in life. Lets start by first look at making tea. Before you get to taste your tea, you got to boil the water before you infuse your tea. Now, the thing with tea is that you don't drink the first infusion. You pour the first infusion into a cup which in is used to pour the infusion over the teapot. This is called "Yang Hu" (Feeding or maintaining your teapot. More on how this is similar to life later. )

Now, you pour in the next round of boiling water and waited for the 2nd infusion to be ready. And yes, you got your tea in your tea cup and you eagerly took the sip. Guess what happen? You scalded your tongue. Does this reminds you of lesson learnt about not jumping to conclusions or making decisions without first considering?

Ok, probably you think this don't happen all the time? Yes I agree with you. Probably the experienced tea drinkers know that its not advisable to take anything more than a big sip for the first sip. But, I must add that even the experienced make such mistakes. Its about coping with the eagerness in us.

Ok, probably you didn't really get to realise the taste of the first cup of tea.
You readied yourself, not wanting to make the similar mistake as the first. You took the first sip very slowly (once bitten twice shy) and carefully. You then take a bigger sip after confirming the temperature is alright. You gulp down on the third.
The look on your face tells me you don't like the tea. You suspected its the amount of time that you took to infuse the tea leaves. Refusing to give up, you decided to try to the best taste out of the tea by varying the length of infusion. But no matter how many times you tried, you just don't get the taste you expected.

Its the same in life, sometimes things just don't go your way no matter what you do and however hard you try. Have you ever though it might have been something else? Probably the tea leaves isn't those that is going to produce your desired taste.
In life, we got to take different approaches. Do not limit yourself to a narrow prospective.

I guess some of those reading this now might be raising their eyebrows about drinking tea, thinking its really a hassle to make your own thing. Yes, there's always the nearest tea joints or the coffee shops to quench your tea cravings. I beg to differ. Its a sense of satisfaction for me to drink the tea I make myself.

More on my philosophy on tea drinking later on in my blog.