Is tea drinking solitary or social for you?

unless he moves to china the first thing a tea lover realizes is that tea appreciation is something he will never be able to share with anyone else he knows.

Umm, that seems a cruel thing to say in a Usenet group that exists to allow people to get to know other people who share tea appreciation.

--scott

life is cruel, and I don't "know" any of you. My definition of "know" is somebody with whom I have associated other than through tea. Words on a screen don't count, and nobody I've ever "known" has had much interest in tea whatsoever. I have a feeling that's the OP's thoughts regarding his post too.

I've always considered tea as a social activity. I've done most of my research and had most of my experiences on mainland China, so it's the way that I am used to. When I went back to the US for a brief stint in

Tea is both for me. I have a few "serious" tea friends with whom I can share the depth of tea-nerdiness with. But in addition to appreciating the wonderful flavors, cultures, and complexities of the beverage, I also think one of the virtues of it is that it brings people together. So whether or not the tea is up to my "standards," I thoroughly enjoy drinking tea with friends.

My philosophy is that tea is to great a beverage to not share with others, and tea drinkers have to start somewhere, haven't we all? I'm always excited to take my non-tea drinking friends to a teashop or serve them tea, and I keep some flavored teas on hand, even though I rarely drink them myself. I have only made one "serious" convert, but again, I don't think the quality of tea is necessarily the only virtue of the beverage.

Still, I've become skilled at noting when to stop rambling about tea; if my friend's eyes start to glaze over while I start rambling about my new yixing or the spring oolongs this year, I change the subject!

Tiffany

xDust> When I first started drinking tea I thought it would be enjoyable to

What is everyone else's experience? Do

Solitary

I encountered this recently and I thought I should share with all of you. May be we all have forgotten this.

A friend from HongKong visited me last week. We were watching a movie at her hotel room the other night. Before the start of the movie, she was asking if I want to have a cup of tea. Sure, why not? As soon as she passed me the mug, I noticed something quite different about it. I sniffed and sipped. OMG, it is pu erh! I looked up at her and looked at the dinning table, she was just using a normal coffee strainer to make the tea! I totally forgotten that we can make pu erh with simple tea pot!

"I didn't know you drink pu erh too!" And so that evening got more interesting with new topic to talk about....

I think what everybody ought to do is to introduce the "taste" of tea to your friends first. Let them try different type of tea without all those complicated tools and steps. Get them interested with tea drinking before introducing them to tea art. I think this is the least intrusive way to introduce tea art.

My answer to the compound question is "yes."

My wife readily succumbed to my addiction. We drink tea together at home, both morning and evening. I also drink tea alone at work.

So it's not really an either-or proposition.

Is China really full of tea conniseurs? I doubt it. I live in an area with five Chinese supermarkets in one block. Unless I'm drastically misjudging, while they have a lot of tea in them, none of it is quality tea.

If your average Chinese person was a conniseur, then even five supermarkets in Sydney, most of whose customers have lived in China or Hong Kong or Taiwan or Vietnam, should have some decent tea in them.

Like I said, though, I could be misjudging.

Gavin

(Anyway, I share a love of tea with my better half.)

My wife and I both share an interest in tea, so for us it's something we have in common. It's actually become a replacement for the cups of coffee at various times during the day. Often we just use the gaiwan, but on the weekends, when we have a little more time, we often get the whole 'kit' out (tray, pots, jugs etc) and sit for an hour or two.

Sometimes though we feel like company - so what we do is when we ring friends inviting them over, we actually ask if they fancy trying something different and have a 'chinese tea party' rather than sit around and consume the usual wine and crackers. Sounds crass but it works!

They then know what is going to happen and won't usually get bored or fed up when the whole afternoon has centred around the tea. Most often than not they end up down at the local market buying their own tea and accessories. If they have taken an interest they will often come again and we'll reciprocate. Some of our friends are also doing the same for their own circle of mates; so in our own small way we are slowly increasing the interest in tea.

Just my 2 bobs worth. Mal Oz

I too am stuck with solitary tea drinking. The problem is amplified by the fact that I'm still in college and everyone in my age group thinks tea is too feminine. The girls I know that drink only drink it because of its health effects. Is it just me, or does in hurt to watch someone make horrible green tea from a supermarket bag, brew it for 15 minutes, and then chug it down because it's good for them?

with green tea,,, try dragon well (a chinese tea and after boiling it put the hot water in a mug for 1 minute then put the hot water into another pot or mug with the green tea by first pour the tea into a container then into another the first will absorb some of the heat and this is important with green tea, it is natural and should not be stewed or cooked, which is what will happen with boiling water and this will make it bitter...too american culture is still not quite recovered from the "boston tea party", before that event americans drank tea regularly, man and woman alike.....

--icetea ps-- upnote tea is on the rise though more people are drinking tea today than several years agom also try an asian community.... all the kids drink tea its the rave!!!!!!!

Like one of the posters above, it is both a solitary and sociable event in my life.

During my working day, I usually take around a half-litre of green tea, it being highly condusive to a sharp brain. I have a porcelain teapot for the office, which I use to brew green leaves (the pot half-filled with water): one portion of leaves in the morning, and one portion in the afternoon. With two robust brews per portion, I take four brews in total. The smell of a good grade green leaf permeating the air is very pleasurable, and often attracts colleagues to sit on my desk for protracted conversations, and perhaps a small cup of the tea.

At home, I have the luxury of time sufficient for the preparation of teas in the gongfu manner, usually pu'er or wulong. These are typically taken either solo, or with my dear wife. Like many of the posters in this thread, I have found that guests often enjoy a tea session for the sake of curiousity and enjoyable atmosphere, but have little inclination to pursue it of their own accord.

Our friends are divided approximately equally between being "Eastern" and "Western", but, oddly enough, none of them could tell their YiWu from their WuYi. Most appreciate the time, flavour, and feeling of taking tea in the gongfu style, but I am genuinely surprised by the lack of knowledge and palate-experience of our Mainland friends - who I naturally (and unfairly) assume know everything about tea since birth, simply because they are Chinese.

It is rare indeed to find a true tea-friend, and the relationships initiated by shared Internet resources such as this group and its ilk are invaluable to me (and thus also to my tastebuds).

Toodlepip,

Hobbes

Barky BarkYX9wg.70831$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com7/21/06

to the contrary, barky bark, in my beautiful city we have a network of friends who more or less regularly sit down to tea with the focus fully on the tea itself. we also drink socially with the primary focus elsewhere on occasion. i suspect that your comment tells us as much about your circle as anything else. still, i know we are lucky in this way and that not everyone has the luxury of tea companionship.

In answer to Dustin's question, I do drink alone everyday in addition to the social occasions that I mentioned above. I also drink tea with my significant other whose interest in tea grows. She enjoys Oolongs most of all, especially those of a greener nature, most especially those from Taiwan.

Michael

This NG and the time I was lost a block or so from The Tea Gallery in NYC are as close as my tea drinking gets to social. Others around me have begun to enjoy tea more, but it is not even close to serious. Even my fiance has really begun enjoying tea, but if you asked her how much tea to use, or what water temp, or how long to brew, or most anything like that, it would be met with a stare and probably she would come and ask me. But she does really enjoy a number of teas (especially oolongs) and she has begun to realize that sugar/honey are not part of real tea drinking. Although she does enjoy that damn chai, which I can't even stand to smell.

Even being a tea drinker for 8 years or so, and an IT guy, I never thought to use newgroups for much more than... So, anyhow, when I stumbled across this place by accident I was about as happy as can be. A place to talk to very nice folks who are into the same level (or thereabouts) of appreciation and enjoyment as myself. Not much spam and friendly, non-flaming, conversation.

I am determined to find The Tea Gallery some day though, and finally try that social thing out.

- Dominic

I think it would be great if we drank tea while socializing with other people. For me, I so enjoy drinking tea by myself but its even better with friends and family who enjoy tea too! KK

No hope of sociable tea in Pittsbourgh, eh? Michael