Sencha…

Is your tea marine-ey and vegital with a strong mineral note? Than your probably drinking sencha (or stale Chinese green tea). Does it have any small amount of depth or complexity to it at all? Then your probably drinking Gyokuro (or better stale Chinese green tea). All the (findable) sencha

Tokyo – Expectation and Reality

I had a vision of Tokyo, formed from popular perceptions, colored by movies and photos, enhanced from books I have read and stories told by one traveler to another; I imagined a city of crammed streets, bright lights, pockets of glitter and gold catering to the jet setting rich of

Last Day in Taiwan

past reflections like shimmering ripples fading fading like the aches in the spring Nothing like a good soak your last day, though I hear Japan beats Taiwan on this count. See you on the flip side. Migrated Comments Brett Is this the public bathing house at Beitou? It looks so

An Unexpected Gift

ChowYu strikes again, this time literally with his calligraphy brush. After our last discussion at Wisteria, Yu asked me “what can I do for your Institute” and the first answer out of my mouth (before I could ask for HongYin) was “ART”. We had spent a lot of time talking

Papaya!

Vibrant thick, sweet and cold, Papaya in Taiwan is for the young and old. After tea, its good for me (maybe), filling and nice, no sugar, just ice, I drink my papaya far to fast because I have a problem with straws… Looks like I’m back to my old

GongFu Tea with Mr. Tsay

So many of us use the term “GongFu Cha” as a blanket term for “Chinese Tea Ceremony”; it makes sense as GongFu means skillful way, and we are all practicing with the goal of brewing better tea. Though we have had some disagreement, the Tea Institute classifies Chinese tea brewing

Haiku for Stéphane

Crazy Taiwan weather fains to interrupt; Beauty changes it’s mind, – Stéphane’s ChaXi continues.

Wisteria Tea House – Round 2

On returning to Wisteria Tea House (Pat and I are there quite often, working our way through the menu – oh, the pains we must bare), just a normal tea drinking day, we were greeted with overwhelming kindness and a fiery new interest by the infamous Chow Yu; He had read

Monde Moderne Haiku

Misty mountains mount memorable siege against my motorcycle, as modern mechanics triumph (if only I was riding a Triumph), and we surmount the mountain passes, only to be turned around by a typhoon.

A brief stop on the life’s to do list

Life Goal: Have top practitioners of the 3 tea ceremonies practicing together – CHECK Life Goal: watch; breath; repeat – CHECK Knowing I made this happen? – a wonderful feeling of fulfillment and accomplishment – now, back to work.