What's your tea of choice when you're sad?

[Iizuki]

I always go for the simple dark shous. Usually this resolves to a not-too-old Dayi V93, but really any shou of this sort would do. I find it cozy to mentally sink into the deep, full bodied darkness. Almost works as a pillow.

Everyone's sad from time to time. What's your pick?

[teacreacha7]

Great question! I'll offer two picks:

If it's "I'm not feeling very well" sad, I might reach for a nice aged Shou Mei... aged white tea just has a healing vibe to me.

If I'm trying to get out of a slump, Japanese green like Gyokoro (or any green for that matter) usually makes me feel energized

[LeoFox]

Aged teas - shou, sheng, oolong ' whatever kinds teas - just deeply aged.

And using a thick, sturdy pot.

To take in that earthiness and decay..

Not something to uplift, distract, or to heal - but to delve deeper and perhaps to pass through

[GaoShan]

If I want something comforting, I'll go for a Gui Fei or red oolong. If I'm just having a bad day and need to power through, I'll drink anything I don't need to pay much attention to, usually a tea I want to get rid of.

[Bok]

For me the quality of the tea would be more important than the kind of tea itself... as bad/sad mood can affect brewing, I go for something that is difficult to get wrong.

[Andrew S]

Interesting question indeed. My choice is moderately-roasted Dong Ding and similar styles of Taiwanese wulong. Hard to brew too badly, pleasant and comforting in flavour and feeling, usually fairly affordable (so there's less fear of 'wasting' it), and, importantly, it was one of the styles of tea that got me started on this journey, which can be nice to think about.

Perhaps strangely, I avoid aged tea in this situation (perhaps one of the only times when I avoid them, whereas LeoFox seeks them out...). That's because they can be a bit 'too contemplative' (just as I avoid giving old, powerful teas to people who might not be in a good frame of mind for them). But that's just me.

Andrew

[Iizuki]

Not something to uplift or to heal - but to delve deeper and perhaps to pass through

Nicely put.

Perhaps strangely, I avoid aged tea in this situation (perhaps one of the only times when I avoid them, whereas LeoFox seeks them out...). That's because they can be a bit 'too contemplative' (just as I avoid giving old, powerful teas to people who might not be in a good frame of mind for them). But that's just me.

It's really interesting to read these diverging views. I can see the wisdom in this too, though perhaps I'm more in LeoFox's camp myself.

[teacreacha7]

Not something to uplift, distract, or to heal - but to delve deeper and perhaps to pass through

I like the way you phrased this. I feel like I should self-examine that my knee jerk reply was "fix it," not "feel it."

This is developing into one of my favorite threads.

[Bok]

Isn't it also the simple act of this tea making routine that can bring comfort? Processing an event, day, misfortune, while making tea.

[Léon]

Tea and sadness are two completely different things. Why should you drink an alternative tea related to the mood you experience? Above that tea prevents sadness. Next question, please!

[OCTO]

Interesting question....

Drinking tea keeps me happy... Anticipation for my next tea session keeps me happy... Talking / Chatting with my tea buddies about tea keeps me happy... Discussing the rabbit hole while drinking tea makes my day..... I'd guess that leaves me no time to feel sad....

[Janice]

I’ve been having a really hard time lately because I have 2 serous problems that are difficult for me to resolve. Since I haven’t been sleeping well lately I figure it’s a good time to enjoy an evening tea session and maybe find out see that evening tea sessions don’t exacerbate my sleep difficulties . I began with some of the last of the 2023 Japanese greens in my Yamada Sou Aoyu shib. Even if I wasn’t drinking one of my favorite teas that shib always cheers me up. Now I’m enjoying some 2019 yancha,

I feel a little guilty not drinking ny 2024 Chinese greens but I just don’t crave them.

[tolean]

When my wife feels tired morally or sick she likes silver needle. It's refreshing and ,, full of life and young,, . I rarely feel a sadness that needs to be healed but if I have it, for me almost any tea would work. I start to feel better even before my first sip since the preparation process makes me feel good ( like pavlov dogs ) . Even if my sadness doesn't go away, during the tea drinking process I somehow get into a bubble and forget for some time about it. So, basically, any tea would work for me, but usually I like in this cases smth with more smell and less taste and not so strong from the so called ,,qi,, of tea. More cheap teas that do not affect my state of mind too much. Can be medium quality Wu Yi teas, diang hong, or some 3-5 years shengs not from too big trees.

[debunix]

I don't think I really do gravitate to a particular tea or genre when I am sad. there are moments of acute sadness when I want some thing easy that I don't have to think about because I can't spend the energy on infusing a tricking to properly or appreciating a really special tea. At those times it's more about the ease and brewing than about the particular tea. Sometimes I might want some lighter options like a white tea or a very floral oolong to lift spirits, sometimes I might want something earthy and deep like a shu puerh or a Wuyi oolong for grounding.

And sometimes feeling a bit down and really really wanting distraction from the thing that's making me sad, I might seek out a tricky to brew and more "difficult" tea like a young sheng puer, to be able to lose myself in it.

[Teafortea]

We drink wine over here and then any tea afterwards. Works