It is all about the tea

Many thanks are owed to family and friends for redirecting a substantial amount of tea back to Taiwan and more specifically, to me.

I could write at length of my tea travails, but suffice it to say any expectations I may have had that good tea would be difficult to come by have been far exceeded. Over time I found myself drinking less tea, not enjoying the tea I was drinking nearly as much, and wondering if I was crazy to have ever liked it as much as I once had or if over consumption had simply taken its inevitable toll.

And then the box came.

Actually it was a letter, and it was in our mailbox for more than a month before I received it (I do not have a key to our post). But that letter was my ticket to better days and I toted it to the post office where I waited patiently in what seemed to be old school desks while they searched for what seemed to be a very long time for my box.

I affixed it to my bicycle and rode home very quickly.

Actually, I was quite nervous. My gradual disengagement with tea was not due to any lack of effort on my part. My searches for better tea stretched from Taipei to Tainan; searches for better water sources led me to mountains, through canyons, and to different purifying stations around the city. Different tea utensils and preparation methods were tried, and failed to deliver. As I opened my package I was preparing myself for the worst. How could it be that this tea from Seattle really made all the difference?

I sat down and heated the water. I rinsed everything and put the leaves in the tea pot. Finally, I filled the pot with water and put the lid on.

Interesting, I thought. The replacement of the tea pot lid did not cause the water in the pot to overflow, as almost always happened since my arrival. Due to lack of practice as well as my bad nerves, my first steeping was on the lighter side of perfect. My first reaction was muted and I was thankful I had numbed my expectations beforehand. But of course, poured more water in.

And, of course, it really was all about the tea. It was like being released from prison, or waking up from a bad dream in which the world had gone to nuclear war. It was as if my gradual appreciation of good tea, built over time and tastings, were being crammed into a period of eight or nine seconds, from the first scent to the aftertaste.

I steeped it a third time, with an irrepressible smile.

...

(In fact, after more thorough scrutiny, I am convinced that were I to collect data the (lack of) water overflow phenomenon would be statistically significant.)