Maybe grandpa doesn't mind having tea leaves stuck to his teeth, but Buddha-Mom finds it rather unpleasant. Who knows where these hands have been?! I don't pay the strictest of attention to where my hands wander. And I am in constant contact with bearded dragons, a snake, a dog, bird shit, my herb garden and my own ass for gawds' sake! I don't want to be fishing in my mouth for that stray tea-leaf or just as bad, spitting that bud out of my mouth like a savage.
OK, got a big 'un in my mouth right now, maybe I will just chew it and see how
that goes. Ok, I am chewing it, chewing it, chewing it. Shit, mastication needs to be
seriously employed just to mash this tiny leaf of Bai Hao Yinzhen. Ok, got it down, now I have a mild but bitter flavor in my mouth. This can't be how its done.
Leaves have been sitting in the glass for ten minutes now and maybe 20% have fallen to the bottom, the rest remain stubbornly at the top, barring me from enjoying even lady-like sips of my brew.
Clearly I need to weigh in with this issue with my tea-head friends and cohorts at 'Beginner's Mind Gongfu Tea group on Facebook. God
damn, that's bitter. The tea itself, if I can get around the leaves, using my teeth as a strainer, (not fun) is delicious, but the leaf I chewed was certainly not happy about being deconstructed in my mouth in such a fashion!
