http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20120111/LIFESTYLE02/701119989/The-way-of-tea

Blessings from Thunder and the White Dragon.  Happy New Year again.

Was in Los Angeles and China Town on Saturday last.  Lots of energy building for the big festival of new Year.  Went to Wing Hop Fung for the usual madness and language gap.  Bought a Silver Monkey White which is varied and superb and a very spectacular Pu-erh that goes by the name of Hunan Bonnay.  Very expensive and worth every penny.

We welcome Karl to the tea room as a new steeper etc.  He’s doing great and tea drinkers love him and his emerging style which is impressive.  Working hard with Edgar to find a couple more knock you out greens from China.  Have a new black on the shelf called Thunder Cloud which is one of the best blacks I have ever drunk.

Love to all of you.  Come in and drink tea.  Celebrate and get tea high with Thunder and Co.

Dragon in or out of tea bowl?

New Year’s Eve had some old customers stop by, Misto the magician showed up and there were magic tricks and good tea to drink.  Loving the Drunken Concubine which just arrived and working on the perfect steep for Dragon Pearls.  White and yellow teas getting a lot of play.  Yellow is fantastic and what a subtle range of flavor and mouth feel.

New apprentice, Sam, on board.  He has the knack big time, great pallet and he’s only 16 years old.  Had his whole family in on Saturday, he steeped the four teas they drank and did great.

Looking forward to the World Tea Expos sign up soon and new Aiya matcha arriving next week.  Blessings to all and many wishes for lots of good tea to drink in 2012.

Michael

Klee and Princess graced the tea room with their presence(presents) on Thursday.  We drank tea and told stories for about three hours.  We had:Silver Needle, Yellow Flower, Virgin Angel, Pouchang, Tie Kuan Yin, Jade Oolong, Ben Shang…, Blue People Ginsing, Guyahan and Golden Tip Pu-erh.  They left  me some large leaf ancient Pu-erh and Marco Polo from Mariage  Freres in Paris.  I think I missed a couple in the list.  Anyway, it was very close to divine and it was Klee’s birthday about which he was bashful.  Always a joy to drink tea with the two of them and talk the talk.

Some ladies came in and one of them requested oolong.  I prepared Jade Oolong for her and she said that her sister had dragged her into Manhattan when she was a kid to all the tea rooms.  This was the taste she remembered.  She remarked that she and her sister had been estranged for twenty years.  She bought a bag of the oolong to send to her.  Scent, taste, memory  ah,.

Yesterday there was big rain in Durango.  Ended up with four people in tea room at once. One 80-year-old male.  One 90-year-old female. and their companions.  The tea of choice was White Drum Mountain.  The 90-year-old had been a member of a dancing troupe in her 70′s and was a participant until a new female member of the troupe ran off with the director.

Saturday’s Basho event was a huge success and the participants wrote some great haiku after the intro to Basho and what he was about.  Also Chyako Hashimoto, who was having an opening for her tea vessel show, fixed matcha for about ten folks.  Very pleasing and connected even enhanced by cookies.

When enough pots with new tops have been created, we’ll have a show and drink some good tea and have good feelings at the White Dragon Tea Room and Gallery.  Your four corners center for extraordinary tea. Think globally and shop locally.  Creating community one cup of tea at a time.

The six participants were busy with their formal notes and endeavors to figure out what exactly they were tasting and name it. 

Next, October 22, we’ll have an opportunity to cup some ten Oolongs.  Five from China and five from Taiwan (Formosa) That will be a treat.  Oolongs are so subtle and varied.  Some are like drinking orchids.

I am finishing up ordering the rest of the oolongs today and then preparing for the event.  There is one opening for the 2-4 tasting.  Also additional spaces in the 4-6 p.m. time slot.  970-769-1022.

Mary and Chizuko Boone “Chez” for short, arrived early afternoon.  Chizuko had a large bag with her which aroused my suspicion and expectations.  She removed a  parcel secured with the traditional Furoshiki, carrying cloth, and unwrapped it.  From the cloth she extracted a tea bowl box and removed a tea bowl and set it on the counter.  It was a magnificent old tea bowl, I actually had no idea of how magnificient and it would be revealed.  It reminded me of some work I had seen from the Oribe kiln but there was no green, nor other traditional marks that are identifiers for that kiln.

She told me that indeed it was oribe kiln.  However, since the bowl was 600 years old, it was in a much earlier style.  The bowl had belonged to her grandmother who was a tea mistress many years ago and had come to her through lineage.  She was shy about appraising us of the value of the bowl but indicated that it was substantial.

She whisked up a wonderful bowl of matcha for me using my black bamboo whisk and the oribe bowl.  It brought back memories of my monk days to watch her ritualized movements even though we were not doing formal tea ceremony.  The matcha was great and holding that bowl an experience to be cherished.  Such generosity and kindness to bring the bowl all the way from Tucson and share it with me.

After I had safely placed the bowl on the table we were using, Chez revealed that it was valued at $60,000.  Kawabata would have got a kick out of that.  As always, the best tea I can find and provide to the four corners tea drinking community and our visitors.  The new arrivals from Japan are spectacular both sencha and matcha. Thunder