Well, I pulled myself away from the after-wedding festivities long enough to write about this. How this small sample of
Tea-Side from Thailand's Sheng HTHC 0801 2006 somehow turned into me giving my best tea-pet-buddy, Orson, the gift of a bride and then marrying them, with me presiding of course and instead of breaking a glass, I doused them liberally with tea, no kidding, see video below. What an adorable couple!
The tea itself did not lend itself to this foray into silliness, but rather I blame the bagel. The Costco//Einstein Brother's 'Everything' bagel I finished eating just as I was setting up for this session in my usual gong-ringing, focused and mindful way. Suddenly I belched a little caraway seed and was inspired to put on the late, great
Irving Field's album,
'Bagels and Bongo's and thus changed the um, 'vibe' in the room. And that's where the goddamn magic happens, isn't it? when you change things up?
In any case and moving on this
Sheng from Tea-Side is a mild and sweet delight and perfect for toasting( and drenching) the happy couple. This is a great Thai tea with strong qi. Tastes of 'raisins, tea-bark and spices' says the written description on their site and I totally agree on those flavor notes. The brews are immediately a lovely dark amber with a super nice clarity of the broth and a balanced and mild, yet long-lingering aftertaste.
Six grams in a small gaiwan at 210f, after four steeps took a break to write this up and now going to
go push it, push it good. Uh Oh, I feel a change of music venue coming on.
And now back to the steeping party!
