It takes a little something to get jazzed about the teas.
I've been sitting on a gift from Stephane since November. It's a wee fragment of Menghai 7542 from 1999. And you wouldn't believe what a cute little critter turned up, tucked between the gently pressed leaves.
Awww. A sweet little rice hull. Of course it went right into the pot.
And this is a good tea. Clean, well-stored. A touch of smoke at the outset that dissipates. With the undiminished potency of the 7542 formula. Two cups had me feeling a kind of tea-gravitas that I have not sensed in ages. Qi, or whatever.
A nice huigan, a sweet mint-fruit on the breath. It's the kind of tea you might drink all the time, were it affordable these days.
And another tea from Stephane that has captured me, this old oolong from Nantou, that oolong-carpeted county. Deeply-roasted.
A pot of this tea lasted days. I wrung the vanilla and unending medicine mint from these unforgettable leaves.
Such tastes bring it all back, the potent drink, the slopes of the mountain. Bury me there, among the betel, in the camelia bushes.
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| A little trip to Lugu |
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| Dong Ding |
