Hi toads. It’s me. Sorry that it has been so long–but I’m here now. That counts for something, right? Maybe, maybe not. I’ll take my licks, but for now let’s get to the tea blog, if I can remember how to be a tea blogger, if you can even call it a tea blog. I could talk more about tea, but there are books about that stuff, hours and hours of content on youtube, lectures and even ceremonies…we’re just toads.
Did you know that green, red, white, and black tea are all variations on the camellia sinensis plant. White is a young leaf, green has its oxidation process stunted in some fashion to prohibit the discoloration of the leaf before it is completely dry. Red and black tea go through a process of oxidation before they dry which develops the robust flavor profile we have come to know from oolong or assam teas.
There, tea knowledge. My only slip was the second L in camellia, damn. Thanks for having my back computer, “fist bumps computer screen.”
It is helpful to know these things, but we don’t need a vast knowledge of tea to enjoy something that tastes good. Come to the booth and we’ll talk about the difference in flavors of shaded sencha and we can talk about pan fried teas. This blog? It started as a fun way to help boost our SEO presence, I was told. However, I wrote a whole blog about bad tea and apparently that isn’t what you are supposed to do. Apparently our website shows up on google if you search bad tea…whoops.
Hey, we are not perfect. We try very hard to be something close to that, but it is perfectly impossible to be perfect. The only absolute truth is that there are no absolute truths. So on and so forth it is. With our lives and our tea, we know that when we fall short of our desired goals, it is ok. If you are constantly pushing for innovation and improvement only for large scale growth, you miss the art of it all. The other day, as I was processing our fourth or fifth flat of berries for the season, covered in sticky sweet juice, and doing my best to let the berries drip clean before transferring them to the sheets on our trays, I had the thought that we are nearly at our capacity for making and preparing these teas. This thought caused me a bit of anxiety. We have other jobs, obligations, and a baby on the way, and it is only strawberry season!
Now, I was only a bit anxious because I made myself take a deep breath and remember that it will be ok. Yes, strawberry season only lasts a few short weeks, and we are hoping to pick, purchase, and process enough berries to supply us for an entire year of tea blending, but we know we are doing our best and that is good enough. It came to a point last year where we would need to purchase organic berries imported by a local co-op instead of the fresh, ripe in-season stuff that we pride ourselves on providing, but we still had good flavor and we did get to spend our money with a local organization.
Yes, these are valid concerns for me to be having but also, it will be ok. Already, we have passed the number of berries we took in last season, so there is hope that we will hit our target weight. It’s faith, folks. I’m not telling you to go to church, or to join a cult. I’m telling you that nobody really knows everything. I’m already running out of facts about tea, and I know a lot about tea. So this isn’t the perfect tea blog, but it is my tea so I will blog–sound good?
I do hope that you enjoy reading this because I have missed writing them. It has been a busy couple of months, but I will try to sit down and do a little writing for the sake of the tea blog. It will probably be a little random, but I’ll figure out a way to be more consistent, just not right now.
Stay bumpy my friends, and remember to let things be and that it’ll be ok as long as you are doing your best.