Its been six months since my last confession, er, article on tea and I admit to you, dear readers that I blame none of you for worrying about me or for totally forgetting me. But here I am and guess where I am! California? You assume, or back in Portland which is where she lived and loved before. But no! I am, as of three weeks ago an official resident of KENTUCKY. Yes, Louisville Kentucky, and I am writing to you with frozen toes on a chilly and wet December day from a BASEMENT. Me! In a basement. Tea-child of open spaces and fresh breezes! Until a month ago I had never even seen a basement and I now own a house with one. Hey, California friends! Did you know the wall sockets are four feet up on the wall inside of cleverly hidden by the baseboards? BASEMENTS! Did you know there are walls made out of cement and no matter how hard you try you CANNOT get a nail in to hang your Buddha art? BASEMENTS!
And yet somehow after three weeks I find myself in perfect contentment as I sit here in this basement. And I have Oriental Beauty specifically the good stuff from www.floatingleaves.com to thank.
I have multiple unpacked boxes of teaware, both rare and common. Eight different sized white porcelain gaiwans for example, three gooseneck kettles, hundreds of cups both mass produced and one of a kind artist created, but today I learned to reach perfection, all I need is one pot, one water receptacle for refuse, one cha hai, a digital scale and some tea.
I've been asking myself for three weeks, " Can I live here? NOT just survive but thrive? Are my tea writing days behind me?"
Today I dragged in the old tea table where the Bekin's movers dumped it in the icy garage three weeks ago, grabbed a Bonavita gooseneck kettle, ( I have THREE, as previously mentioned; one for the car, one for the kitchen, and one for the holy tea-space), the tea and a cup Andrew Goodman of Smatcha gifted me with, and I used that cup from him to toast my new life. As a Gong fu Cha devotee, right goddamn here in Louisville, Kentucky.
So! No more shall I sit here like a lump of fuckin' terducken, I am BACK!
New reviews pending!
