There is a tea for every mood

Cosy, I am sitting at the wide, wooden table in the living room, close to the window. It's Saturday morning, outside is cold and foggy. The wood is burning in the fireplace. Hundreds of thoughts go through my mind, one by one they fade quickly into each other.

A month ago I was in Berlin to say goodbye to the Nannuoshan Teahouse and to an even more important part of my life.

Right now I am home alone. It feels lonely and just yesterday it was not meant to be.

Overlooked is not the future. In just one month I will be living in a new country, a new continent, facing the challenges of a new job and a new life. It's time for change and I am not sure being ready. 

  

 

Last I ask myself, which tea should I drink to warm my body and soul? I know the answer before completing the question: a young Shou Mei. I love white tea, especially Mudan, a close relative to Shou Mei. The tea is not yet on sale, it just reached maturity and soon will be available.

I choose my Kintsugi plate and the most thin and elegant gaiwan. They match both my mood and the tea. I sourced this Shou Mei last year in spring, it was just few months old; delicate and powerful at the same time. Shou Mei knew, it was time for change. In spring its leaves were still green and so was the taste. White tea changes steadily, incredibly fast in the first year. The leaves of Shou Mei looked so fragile, vulnerable. But in just few months they changed face and taste. Now the tinge of the leaves and liquor are darker and the taste gained some mild fruity notes, that remind me of juicy yellow fruits, maybe apricots. But Shou Mei is never resting; it will continue changing over the next months and years. Sometimes it slows down, might remain the same for months or even give the impression to walk back on its path. And then another hot and wet season arrives and Shou Mei changes face and taste again.

Now I am enjoying my last bowl of tea. It feels so precious when I think that in just a few months it will taste so different. And isn't that the beauty of life, always in change?

Ergo, I will be a Shou Mei, ready to change for the better and brave enough even to walk my path backwards, if it deserves to be.

  

 

Whether you are in the office with your kuai ke bei, at home with more precious wares, like your new Kintsugi plate, or just got up on a Saturday morning take a moment to look inside yourself, then raise your eyes to the cabinet and choose the tea that best match your mood. Your mind, soul and body will be thankful, and I will be so, too.

Do you feel addressed by my words? Then look at them over and over again, from different perspectives, and you might discover being the addressee.

 

Written by Gabriele