Blog Post Three: General Tea and Existential Musings
Oh hello again. As soon of you may already know, I have recently had some dental trouble which has resulted in an unfortunate but necessary hiatus from both drinking and posting about tea. However, thanks to the miracle of modern medicine (lots of painkillers and antibiotics), we are back baby!
Due to this general disturbance of my tea-drinking schedule I don’t have anything particularly exciting or specific to discuss. No long-winded, intricate-detail-ridden post, just a nice, laid-back catch-up.
As the old saying goes: “absence makes the heart grow fonder”, so too has this temporary “absence” of tea made me re-evaluate and affectionately re-establish my fondness for the beverage itself as well as the process of mindful tea preparation. Only when I physically couldn’t drink tea did I truly realise the massive part it plays in my daily life. It is a practice that allows me a peaceful retreat, a silent period of time between the hustle and bustle of daily life. It allows me to ground myself in the present, returning my thoughts from the past and future to what is presently sitting before me. The fact that the tea requires my patience, focus, attention and appreciation to be prepared properly is a welcome escape from the endlessly streaming list of tasks that must be done, giving me an excuse to park the worries and indulge in some well-needed and well-deserved self care.
Additionally, as someone who tries to drink as little alcohol as possible despite my entire previous career relying on the production, evaluation and sale of the stuff, tea gives me an alternate route to learn about and appreciate a whole class of beverage that requires the same amount of skill and care to produce, packed with a vast expanse of variety, intricacy and elusive subtleties, minus the unpleasant mental affliction that I experience via alcohol consumption.
Tea for me (and evidently, a lot of people) is a beverage that simultaneously calms and comforts, while also stimulating my productivity, creativity and enjoyment of other hobbies such as reading and music. That is another poignant topic for me at the moment: the combination of mindful tea enjoyment, literature and/or music. For me, they are interests that are inextricably linked, not clashing but rather dancing a playful waltz with each other. I would quite like to dive in to those topics in more detail, but perhaps on another day where time allows a more careful consideration and more intricate analysis.
For now, I think I’ll park it there. I’m not quite sure if I really had a point this week, or whether my ponderous ramblings meandered into a somewhat snobby, self-indulgent essay, either way I hope you found some of it relatable. I’m not sure whether most people are in to this kind of long-form, contemplative posting but in the immortal words of my fragile ego “It’s my blog and I’ll post what I like”.
Until next week kiddos. I hope you have something lovely in your cup,
Peter.
