Saturday, December 06, 2014

Searching For Lift

When I seek out new puerh, I'm constantly searching for a characteristic I call "lift".  At it's most magical,   it's a tea that will crack open the mundane weary human condition to give you a heady rush of mentally flying.  But I'm happy to encounter even a thimbleful of lift which at it's most basic is just a small party in the mouth- not unlike a spoonful of brandy splashed into the jam I spread on my morning toast.



I was trying my durnedest to enjoy the white tuo last week but it was just stuck in the mud - no lift... the larger leaves having too much carbon tasted overwhelmingly of graphite lead.  I immediately brew up the 06 7542 and even the humble lift on this lightly fermented shu is immediately obvious- high notes add an extra lively vibrancy that makes you want to sip more.  I'm going to leave this tuo a few months more to rest and if it doesn't come alive by then, I might have to put it up for adoption.

So today I geared up for my weekend morning fix.  Every Saturday morning I block out four hours for tea while my husband is away at class.  I don't eat until I get tea satisfied.  When I don't get a fix within the first two hours, I have to end with a tea that consistently provides some lift so I can eat breakfast and avoid a low blood sugar crash.  A decent quality Yiwu easily provides enough lift and so I declare defeat for my five other teas and end with a 2001 Jin Chang Hao that Israel sent me.  It's a lady tea that's pretty in the mouth- though not pretty enough to make grown men giggle like other younger Yiwus. But it's enough lift so I can now head to the post office and start my day.




2 comments:

  1. Wow, two hours of tea drinking without breakfast (especially with shengpu involved) would be a recipe for digestive distress in my case. I'll bet it's good to have unsullied taste buds, though.

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    1. Dear Israel,

      I try to make most of my blank morning palate but being hungry can heighten your sense of smell. I normally drink aged teas/gushu/shu in the morning so I don't wreck my day. Also the effects of tea are quite immediate on an unbuffered empty stomach.

      H

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