Tea Chums

It's been a long time since we had friends visiting who have an interest in tea! Our usual friends studiously ignore our curious tea-setup in the corner of the lounge. My cousin once asked if the tea-table was a writing desk, though.

So, it was a distinct pleasure to have Mr. and Mrs. Nada pay us a surprise visit as their worldly travels took them close to our city.

Tea al fresco was a very pleasant change. Nada has a charcoal burner from the talented Taiwanese engineer-turned-potter whose work featured in one of the first two issues of a tea magazine that I bought from Houde, long ago. The potter in question grinds rocks into his clay, and integrates driftwood and other cast-asides into his work to great effect.

On the charcoal burner, one of Nada's two century-old tetsubin, my old faithful tetsubin, and Nada's charming silver kettle. It was quite an education to try them all on the same teas: my tetsubin was a touch rougher than Nada's veteran tetsubin, while both gave a deeper, heavier flavour to the teas than the smooth, polished, almost brittle performance of the silver kettle.

Thanks to Dr. Kim for a splendid 2009 Dayuling wulong (which is one of my personal favourites), originally provided by Teamasters, which we enjoyed. A 1970s wulong from Taiwan, then onto a 1930s (!) liu'an.

The latter just keeps on marching, and I'm still infusing the leaves here in my office, two days later. It's chaqi was quite something - after a while, everything seemed sharply in focus, and very quiet.

Finally, we picked some vegetables, and I got to work on my stir-fry skills. If engineering ever gets boring, maybe I can open "Laowei's House of Zhonglish Cuisine".

And before we knew it, the evening was over.

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Late edit: I've since been background-infusing the 1930s Liu'an in a gaiwan in my office for four days now. The colour has faded to creamy-brown, but the infusions remain smooth and woody, and my body responds to the chaqi in a remarkable manner. A singular tea!