TeaForum.org

mbanu wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 2:26 am

Tea doesn't have to be respectable all the time -- that's the basic idea behind that most ancient of tea-pets, the Pee Pee Boy.

I'd say it doesn't have to be anything – tea is just tea. The rest is what we make of it.

Only last week, I did a virtual private tea session with one of Wu De's students. It was fantastic! Very meditative and spiritual.

treetime wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 2:11 pm

Only last week, I did a virtual private tea session with one of Wu De's students. It was fantastic! Very meditative and spiritual.

I have to ask, was that person a model too? j/k
Honestly I don't think the message they're sending is bad. I like the Taiwanese oolong I got from GTH.

@Bok I have friends in the Lolita movement. They're productive members of the society; never bother nor cause harm to anybody. It's just a fashion choice -- not any different from Patagonia vest over short sleeved tee favored by men over 40s where I live.

pantry wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 4:38 pm

treetime wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 2:11 pm

Only last week, I did a virtual private tea session with one of Wu De's students. It was fantastic! Very meditative and spiritual.

I have to ask, was that person a model too? j/k
Honestly I don't think the message they're sending is bad. I like the Taiwanese oolong I got from GTH.

Bok I have friends in the Lolita movement. They're productive members of the society; never bother nor cause harm to anybody. It's just a fashion choice -- not any different from Patagonia vest over short sleeved tee favored by men over 40s where I live.

No judgment involved here from my side, just stating an example of another more visible sun culture

If you ask me tan wearing vest guys are probably worse, haha

Who is out there putting crystals in tea?! Nmind, I don't want to know.

If anyone has Chinese language links/info on Lim Ping Xiang, Wu De's teacher, I always want to learn more about him.

This is his great video on liu bao:

Creepy looking fella who gets storage wrong. HKG tea storage folks should sue this guy but then again he won't be able to pay up I don't think...

14:50... Ooohh.. painful...

StoneLadle wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 9:59 pm

14:50... Ooohh.. painful...

Please elaborate your pain

Oh boy, what did I start by resurrecting this thread to be fair it was on the first page of its subforum, and I couldnt resist.

Bok wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 2:35 am

tea is just tea. The rest is what we make of it.

Yeah I pretty much agree with this take.

In the first few years of my tea habit, I collected a bunch of artisanal Japanese tea implements, read about the history, etc.

Once I attended an actual Urasenke ceremony demonstration at the center in NYC: https://www.yelp.com/biz/urasenke-chano ... k-new-york

It was quite interesting, and baroque.

But the past decade I am more about my own little ritual of just making loose leaf tea in simple, easily cleanable glassware. Minimalist compared to some, although I do use a scale and timer, and measure the water precisely, and use a thermometer for non-black tea, and fine-tune the brewing parameters.

That's just what sparks joy for me. Relative simplicity.

On the other hand, whether one is personally more "secular/agnostic," like me, or more "spiritual/romantic," there does seem to be something about the pursuit of good tea, that is calming, centering, and "elevating."

I don't approve of people con-ing neophytes or the gullible though. And I think that is maybe where Ethan was coming from, when he remarked that this California group deserves a bit of mockery.

As the Times did it, relatively good-natured mockery, perhaps.

Bok wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 10:50 pm

StoneLadle wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 9:59 pm

14:50... Ooohh.. painful...

Please elaborate your pain

makes me think he's a con man... any idiot can tell the difference between PE and LB if placed side by side... what a moron

StoneLadle wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 11:35 pm

Bok wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 10:50 pm

StoneLadle wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 9:59 pm

14:50... Ooohh.. painful...

Please elaborate your pain

makes me think he's a con man... any idiot can tell the difference between PE and LB if placed side by side... what a moron

At 14:50 I think he is referring to the Taiwanese equivalent of people here who like peach rooibos. Those people would definitely have a difficult time telling the difference in mouthfeel between shou and liu bao, however obvious it is to us.

The world doesn't need more "dirty Buddhas".

Nope. That's not what he meant.

Respectfully, StoneLadle, I am disturbed by your comments about Lim Piang Xiang.

I wonder if anyone else felt this way.

To be honest, it seems disparaging.

I am not talking about cancel culture, about calling someone out, just inviting a gentle closer look.

I don’t know it to be true, but I am guessing that there are more men than women on this board. And I wonder if this assertive, dominant way of talking about tea that also happened in this thread - “It’s just this” - is reflective of something deeper.

I’m not interested in a precious, West-coast, yoga-style gongfu either. But I am wondering if this message board forum has an unconscious tendency to “police” conversations that tend toward the feminine or spiritual.

@treetime

Tea gurus are aplenty, especially originating from this part of the world.

This guy chose a certain trajectory and explicitly said something rather nonsensical. Gurus need to be consistent and if they're out there, that's their choice and the responses are just that.

I have no interest in gender politics when it comes to tea but I do have issues with misinformation and chimped up "spirituality"...