On one of my few shopping excursions, I wanted to go to Starbucks to get a cup of coffee. I looked inside and saw a very very long line, both waiting at the pick-up counter and the order line. So in my wandering around the shopping mall, I found the bagel place and thought, "Okay, they must have coffee." At least it's matching the theme of Seattle. (Starbucks started in Seattle. I'm sure these guys were neighbors. "Hey, where did you get your coffee beans? Same place?") I got my coffee and decided to sit down because I had walked at least half the mall already. I settled down and took a sip. Ahhh.... It wasn't really the "best" I have had but it's enough to satisfy my craving for coffee.
Most of my friends know I enjoy drinking coffee. I mainly drink it in the morning to wake up the senses. But as much as I enjoy coffee, I really cannot tell you if I'm drinking a blend from South America or a blend from Africa. Does a coffee person supposed to know where the beans come from? Or is it merely good enough to know which roast I like? Having also been a barista at a few coffee houses, I know a lot of random things about coffee. But coffee geography, I am not so good at.
Now, tea, it's the complete opposite with regards to geography. If you asked where oolong is grown, Ceylon and Darjeeling, I can tell you about where they are grown and what kind of tea it is (black, "red tea", oolong, green, or white). And there are floral teas and herbal teas as well.
There has been many years of trying to "get into" drinking tea. Until recently, I didn't drink much tea. I don't know if it is due to the American culture and its love for coffee or it has anything to do with the history leading up to the Boston Tea Party. And I couldn't figure out why I do not like most Chinese tea, even though I'm Chinese. Chinese tea is usually consume with food and especially if you're in the south part of China eating dim sum, you might be drinking pu ehr, chrysanthemum, or oolong.
I have come to realize that tea greatly effects metabolism and most Chinese teas leave me cold except when I eat. My body natural "chi" (energy) is pretty "cool", meaning I always feel cold. My metabolism might be a little bit lower than average. In doing a little experiment, most teas grown in China leave me cold. But teas grown in India (mainly, what the Westerners would call "black" tea, the Asians actually call it "red" tea), leave me warm inside. Josey has an "aha" moment.
Most teas that the English commissioned to grow in India are sold in England as the various types like Earl Grey, PG Tips (shown above), and Breakfast tea. Even a "East-meets-West" tea, Hong Kong style milk tea, is a blend of various black/red teas. These teas I have grown to really love and enjoy. In some odd way, black tea is very similar in boldness to coffee. Rich, creamy with milk. Except tea doesn't leave me "heavy" like coffee and it doesn't feel as abrasive, as coffee can be acidic depending on where it is grown (which I really knew)...
So, as this article may not have a real purpose in my daily blog, this does explains why until this point, I have not explored tea as I should. I now have at least a cup of tea in the afternoon and sometimes two, depending on my warmth level these days.
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