galut vs geulah- is it even worth it

15 iyar 5781 

is it even worth it? spending all this time and all this money on drinking tea. not just the cost of drinking through loads of tea to find what i like, but then dropping dough on good tea which can be quite expensive. is it worth all the stress and hunting and agonizing? is it worth the time and money put into the space and special conditions required to store puer. i need a container, and a hygrometer, and some boveda packs and i need to check on the tea like it’s a finicky house plant. and and and…

 

i am seriously asking. this is not rhetorical. does the amount of enjoyment i get out of drinking puer outweigh all the stress? why cant i be happy with drinking some pretty good affordable tea and smoking good weed? no need for $200 cakes with great qi. top shelf weed has great bang for your buck where i live compared to top shelf tea. bam, here’s some qi for you.

 

i am writing these all as questions because these are things i am still asking myself. i am settling into what this blog is about and how it differs from other tea blogs. one thing that i can definitely say is part of this blog’s identity is constant existential crises- ahhhhhh (which, coincidentally, is also part of my daily existence. hm…).

 

i think these are all serious questions for people who are just starting to get into fancy tea and especially puer. this is not a cheap hobby and that is a very different thing for me and my lifestyle and philosophy (i’m on team DIY). for others like me who do not have a lot of money, it is worth asking if this is really worth it. 

 

i have many other interests and hobbies in my life. this blog started during the winter of the covid pandemic. i was trapped at home way more when i would usually be. normally, i would spend an hour or two at the gym a day (i am not a buff person, but it helps a lot with my mental health and physical health problems). every winter i usually go down some weird rabbit hole of a new thing to research and this winter it was puer. i had already been drinking puer but this is when i got more serious. it was nice to have something to occupy myself with but it started to become more stressful than enjoyable. the weather is getting nicer which means i will be spending way more time outside and away from computers. i will be writing in this blog less and rediscovering the world as it begins to open up again.

 

there is more to life than tea. time for me to recommune with some other great plants.

xoxo,

atzei besamim

ps

here is an oldie but a goodie from cwyn. we differ a decent amount in our philosophies and priorities (and i dont like w2t), but i really like this post (also one of her most popular)

https://deathbytea.blogspot.com/2017/06/how-can-i-afford-this-hobby-puerh-teas.html