teakkurim

21 tamuz 5782 it is summer here in the PNW and although the season started off cool and   cloudy, the sunny hot days are finally here. this means i am trying to spend as much time outside as i possibly can. Part of doing that is by going camping on all my weekends and i finally got to do my first camping trip of the summer. i have weird days off so i wasn’t able to go with anyone on such short notice but going by myself is just as good (and sometimes even better… i like my alone time). this time of year is when i also like to connect with all of the beautiful plants that are around me. something i always do when i go camping is to start my mornings with an herbal tea made with the plants around me. it gives me something fun to keep in the back of my head while i am exploring and getting to know the area where i am. it feels like a good way for me to get in touch with the place and to start to build a relationship with the land. when picking wild plants, a rule that i like to follow

6 tammuz, 5782 over the past 4 months, my life has been consumed by work and school. it felt like all i was doing was working, reading research articles, and going to classes. thankfully, that is no longer my life. to my exuberant surprise, i dont have school during the summer, yay!!! this means i am going to try and do as much camping as i can. i still have work to think about, but that is manageable. with some normalcy returning to my life, i am trying to rebuild the habits of doing what make me happy. one of those things is writing (and not just blog writing). another of those things is praying which, like exercising, is z hard habit to pick back up after tucking it into the part of my mind labelled "things i will do when im not doing school and work at the same time anymore." speaking of exercise as a metaphor, i am rebuilding my habit of going to the gym. i still did it during classes but not as often as i liked. time to get buff... as if. even as i write this post, this

 Cool and informative video from a cool person about Chinese tea by region with a large focus on Puer and different regions in Yunnan.  https://watch.screencastify.com/v/E7Ot0E9cMMDSe7mbbg8h

5 iyar 5782 i have not been posting regularly on here because...drum roll...i started graduate school. ta dah. i am on my way towards getting a teaching degree. not only that but i am working while doing graduate school, so all of my free time is taken up by homework.  in addition to spending my time on homework, i will probably continue to post even less as...another drum roll...the weather starts to get nicer, yay! that means more time outside, less time indoors, and way less time with screens (no offense computer). more time outdoors means more tea outside. i am blessed enough to live with a patch of woods behind my trailer. i spend a lot of time in those woods; walking around, singing, doing tai qi, praying, and now, drinking tea. i pack up my bag loaded with; drinking vessel, tea, lighter, kindling, wood fired camp stove, and water. then i trudge on down to nestle myself between cedars, ferns, and a tiny lil creek. i love working with fire, tending fires, and cooking with fires. t

recently, i have been experimenting with making some non-traditional kugels. i didn’t grow up eating many kugels (some, but not many) and i haven’t made any until recently. they’ve been great to add into my weird diet that tries not to eat too many grains, is gf, dairy free, and legume free. it’s nice to make a big ol’ kugel and have it to easily heat up and add to my meals throughout the week when i don’t have as much time or energy to cook. this recipe i made up takes inspiration from one of my favorite dim dum dishes (which is the reason i feel it is reasonable to post on this tea blog). i love those crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside daikon cakes served with many dim sum meals. the real daikon cake, Luo Bo Gao , is a lil too complicated for my daily meal prep, so i made this rip-off kugel version that’s a lot quicker. *i don’t measure when i cook, so these measurements are approximations, but i think it’s still pretty spot on ingredients: -one large russet pota

16 adar II 5782 i am excited that my relationship to qi continues to evolve ( past posts on qi ). just with any practice or activity, the more i relate to chaqi, the more i gain. this does not hold to the isolated activity of ‘gong fu cha.’ the more we experience life, the more we can relate the world we are encountering and it’s generative lessons to any practice and vice versa. the more i consciously interact with chaqi, the more i learn to interact with qi in my other encounters. qi is not a one way street. yes, a tea has qi, but we as the tea drinkers can change how the qi interacts with us. one aspect of this is the classic example of how your mood can alter your experience. if i am having a grumpy day and feeling rushed and stressed out, i may interpret the tea as ‘energizing.’ but if i am calm, relaxed, and intentional when drinking my tea, i might feel the tea as more calming and not energizing at all. but here’s where the kicker comes in ‘hey, teakkurim, if one’s mood is what

21 adar 1 5782 a discussion that has been happening on discord lately (and im sure many times before i joined the server) is about judging a tea based on how well it will age and how well it will be 10+ years from now. classically, puer was only considered puer when it was at least 20-30 years old. and although i am not into strict fixed definitions, i recognize the reason for this distinction/delineation. 90%-99% of the 'puer' i drink (and same for many others in the west) is 'semi aged puer.' why do i only drink semi aged puer and not the 'real stuff'? well dear reader, i would if i could. trust and believe. although the semi aged tea i drink is very good, they do not yet have that markedly aged taste or feel yet. there is a certain something that truly old/aged cakes have that is distinct. i will happily write more on this subject once i have more of those teas (wistful sigh) most of this 'real puer' is very expensive these days. all the more so in

5 adar 1 5782 i am starting to settle into my tea habits. i have gained a good sense of what i want to drink and when. ive also started to gain a sense of how i want my tea budget to look. both of these things are a couple of the main goals for me on this blog. i now know that too much sheng is rough on my stomach. this is especially true for younger shengs. i don’t want sheng to be a daily drinker for me (maybe an aged huangpian or something decent and affordable and aged that works well for cow drinking. when i first started my puer journey i was hoping to ride the wave of the shouletariate and to have shou be my go to daily drinker while saving my budget for more fancy teas to be reserved for the better quality aged sheng. this hope was momentarily derailed by an experience with a fancy shou wrecking my stomach. but after drinking a lot of tea, and then drinking some more tea, i am back on the road to settling into that goal and being happy with it. i will write a future post about

6 shevet 5782 i don’t want to rub it in, but my water is really good. i am very fortunate and very grateful to pass by a delicious natural spring on my way to work every day. but this will not always be the case. one day i will move and then what? more importantly, i care about accessibility and want everyone to have access to great water. so what can you do if you don’t live by a natural spring? firstly, try to find out if there is one near you. it may be closer than you think. ask the hippies in your town or check out this website: https://findaspring.com/ also, if you cant get to a natural spring, there are things called ‘water recipes’ so you can make/enhance your water. yes, i am not joking. when i first saw this i thought that was the most ridiculous thing ive ever heard. it’s water, how can you have a recipe for water?! i now know it is a very valid thing. good water is more than H2O. spring water, the most esteemed for tea, is valued for a reason. there is something behin