Friday, September 28, 2012

Shoveling Compost

Yesterday I went for a run at the Berkeley Marina when I was welcomed by tall mounds of pristine black gold.  Several times a year, city of Berkeley dumps municipal compost at the Berkeley Marina free for anyone to lug away. After trying to run a mile and half, I got excited and returned with my truck and a shovel.

The word "compost" shows up in many a bad shu review.  But after breathing in and tasting compost dust for an hour,  I'll never be so casual to overuse such hyperbole again. 

Ira has unexpectedly sent me a welcome box crammed with timely tea.  After a trying day, it warms my heart to see her handwriting. I know I've turned into a samples hoarder but winter is coming and I want to be ready.   I've thus far kept up my two month no-buy pact.  Tonight I brewed up perhaps one of the most expensive shu bricks to cross my path.  Although I am itching to use the C word on the latent wodui,  I've decided not to post anything further and let this sleep.  The shock is too much even for me.



8 comments:

  1. Does this constant stream of samples from others not break the spirit of your no-buy pact?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Not at all Doctor! No-buy pact was made to stop myself from buying another boatload of gratuitous beengs when I clearly knew

    1. Berkeley aging conditions are terrible
    2. None of the cakes I had bought recently are as good as the cakes I procured in 2006/2007 and new stuff just costs so much more.

    I reached a learning plateau with conventional internet tea buying. I still want to continue on my tea education and find excellent tea.
    You may have missed the fine print--
    "won't buy any more tea for oneself (from the normal internet)"

    ;^)
    H

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You should be a lawyer

      Delete
    2. Hster, I am curious to know: do you know (speak/read) Chinese? I know you mentioned Korean ancestry... Essentially, I am curious how much can one learn about tea knowing only European languages like me :-(

      Delete
    3. Dear Hektor,

      It depends on what you mean by "learning about tea." I learn more about tea by drinking quality teas than by reading. I had read ad nauseum about traditional storage but it was only when I finally tried a whole lot of them this summer that I truly learned and educated my palate about wet storage.

      We also have a strong community of english writing bloggers and commenters devoted to dispersing any grain of pu-erh knowledge so I think understanding Chinese is not necessary. IMHO, getting your hands on educationally enriching pu-erh samples is far more important than learning Chinese.

      I do rely on Chrome automatic translation and babelcarp rather than recognizing chinese characters from memory. But the more I look at the philosophic meaning of the ideograms- the more I do want to learn Chinese in my senescence.

      H

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  3. Receiving freely given samples from tea friends is a far cry from blowing cash on mystery beengs (or bits-o-beengs), methinks.

    Being a fan of hyperbole myself, I'd like to say that I'd rather drink steeped compost than many shus.

    Once I brewed a pot or two of old shu brick for a friend who is a stranger to tea and she said: "This tastes like a shoe." That's a true story.

    Good job on the no-buy, Hster. And thanks so much for the package. You're a peach.

    -Israel

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Israel,

      I will concede MarshalN does have a point. I and other pu-erh heads suffer from trying to acquire as much quality tea and possible and perhaps the no-buy pact should have something to do with moderation. I've never gotten so many different kinds of tea in as short of a timespan as I did during this no buy pact.

      H
      p.s. I'm assuming the steeped compost comes from a gentler house blend? Compost comes in more flavors than shu. Only by whiff, I know steer, chicken, and horse are stronger stuff than worm castings or rabbit.

      Delete
    2. Yes, house blend only. I avoid all animal pu.


      sorry, you can delete that if you want,
      Israel

      Delete