My Niche in Blogging About Tea...

I'd like to address something that I believe is fairly clear, but may need stating from time to time.

If you wish to learn the more particular terms or other, than those I delve into, PLEASE I invite you click on the blogs I've listed to the right hand side. I looked high and low over at least a hundred or so tea blogs out there before I started my own and have added them as I find those worth viewing, both the information, which can be had by any library or Barnes and Noble on books about tea, and the spirit of the writing, which is not nearly as easy to find as you may think!

While the blogs I've selected have and ARE teaching me ~ I am in their debt~ each of our blogs have a different niche, each are worth exploring (I think I see a future post coming on the blogs I selected and what I feel is their niche and, therefore, value to share!).

My niche seems to be unique as I am such a layman at this. That, while my knowledge of tea in specific and in general grows, I'm not losing my ability to write passionately about tea from an elementary point of view...I like that point of view. I think it keeps things simple and, I hope, approachable.

A great regret of mine would be that someone read my blog and get an exacting lesson on tea, but not catch a whiff of the aroma that tea can bring to life, the flavor it can bring to a solitary morning, or  the comfort of warmth to a bridal shower/brides' maids luncheon.

That someone would find out the who's who and what's what in the subculture of tea (and let me tell you...there is one!) and not catch a hint of the One I know who can make each tea tried a celebration, blending all the senses He's given us, exploring the variations of a plant He created for our enjoyment!

THAT is the point of this Blog. To share my passions...with a promise to correct true errors as they come...and they will :).

I'll leave you with this...In the last month or so, I watched a movie on Netflix called "All in This Tea" about the work of David Lee Hoffman to bring quality China tea to the US and to gain for the Chinese tea farmer some measure and means of presenting good tea for purchase, where the government had monopolized the farmer out of the market.

I differ significantly from Mr Hoffman's seeming religious and even scientific point of view ~ Proven wrong by many a creature's existence and by Darwin's own disclaimer, I didn't think anyone really believed in Darwin anymore~ But on the following point alone, I find I admire and wish to emulate his example.

At the end of the film, he was at the annual Tea Festival in Berkley, California. He said something that caught my attention and it touched a cord within, so much so that I actually laughed out loud and my husband asked, "Why is that so funny?"

With no pretense and not a hint of irony, he said, "Wow! I finally made a good cup of tea! It's only taken 10 years...but great! I made a good cup of tea!"

This is a man, known, admired and even praised by those who REALLY ARE in the know at the very birth place of tea, China, speaking aloud the same desire of my heart, in such an elementary way...His humility in this was refreshing and utterly instructive.

All that, my dear reader, is the hope and calling of this, my adventure in the world of tea! That...and I just LOVE DUEing tea with you! It is a joy and a treasure! Thank you for reading!