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Leo,
why do you think it is more important than wine glass to wine?Do you think it makes a difference if the cup is made of porcelain x ceramic?I’d like to add a statement here about tea cup shapes…
I finally got to experience with different shapes and they do, really, make a difference in tasting of tea.Considering these two types of cup:As far as I could notice, the one on the left, besides being more anatomical, provides a much better experience of the tea’s aroma.As for the V-shaped cup, I haven’t tried it yet.Through personal experience, I get the impression that the properties of tea, concearning warm/cool nature, may change through subsequent infusions.
As I am sensitive to cold, I noticed some difference, some bodily reactions to later infusions, in gonfu style approach, I avoid going beyond the 3rd infusion, as it seems that the tea gets colderdid anyone else notice something like this?I think the introduction of machines won’t help. It creates other problems, this can be seen all over the world since industrialization began. Machines aren’t used to make people lives better (people could work less hours for the same amount of money), but instead machines substitute people who end up without jobs or working for even less money because they are afraid to lose their jobs.
One thing that could help, maybe.. is the union of the small tea producers, so that they would help each other instead of fighting to see who will get the sale. I don’t know how this could be done, if it can be done… but I guess it could be a way. They need to help themselves.The manufactured tea will always be of superior quality and there is people willing to buy it. The producers need to know how good their tea is and get a good price for it.There’s no use in producing more. They should try producing better instead.Just some thoughts. I’m really alien to chinese/indian economy.Thanks Leo!
I’m starting to get a feel of these combinations..I’m getting over the habit I acquired during the ‘raw food diet’ season, which is the “mono-meal”, making a meal out of a single thing. I guess it can be a disaster, considering the different nature of things and one’s current health state.I’m very happy to re-discover ginger.. it gives me new perspectives in matching ingredients.Yesterday I did one experiment.. the only dairy product I consume, and I do it occasionally, is plain yogurt. I know it is rather cool, but I wanted to have some..So I did a kind of syrup to go with it, I boiled raw sugar cane syrup with ginger and a little bit of water to go with the yogurt, and it tasted delicious. I’m not sure if this was 100% ok, but I guess it is much better than having the plain yogurt by itself, as I used to have.I may be in the food basket of the world, but our culture is so fragmented, and the food culture suffers a lot from this, specially in the big cities (the ‘poor’ regions seem to have a richer native food culture, as this is cheaper than any industrialized food).Some people may be lucky enough to get some tradition from their families, but for many of us, we can hardly say we have a food culture, in the sense that there’s not a bigger whole, integrating the elements (more like a ‘zoo’ than an ‘ecosystem’, a collection of pieces of different things that do not create a picture when sewed together)Our cultural mirror has been shattered in hundreds of pieces. This is what some may call “post-modernity”, but I guess it’s symptoms are worse in some places (specially those suffering from the consequences of colonization).Brazil is such a young country (merely 500 years!)… TCM alone is over 2000 years! So culturally, we are babies… our aboriginal tradition was almost completely lost, and we have to deal with bits of information we inherited from all over the world. Some may use the word ‘freedom’ to characterize this absence of tradition. Maybe it is just an eufemism for ‘alienation’.What good is having a treasure if you don’t know you have it, or don’t know how to make use of it? Well… maybe this is better than having nothing at all, but my tendency is to be a little skeptical on this matters.I’m amazed with TCM, I notice that I’m getting results much faster than I expected. If I would rely on modern science I think I would just have to accept that “my genes are not very good”, or something like that. Besides getting me healthier, for me TCM raises many philosophical questions that contribute to my studies.Leo,
yes.. I understand that your advices are not medical opinions! I’d say that the best thing about them, at least when one considers the ways of ocidental medicine nowadays!I’m trying to find some professional TCM practitioner here. There are some acupuncturists… but I really would prefer someone specialized in diet matters in TCM.Anyway, I’ll keep researching on the subject to get more useful information.Who would suspect that skipping salad and fruit would actually do me some good?I don’t know what happened to our culture. It is very common to find the idea that “everything natural is good”.I read some stories about people getting into serious trouble due to these “raw food diets”.By the way.. I was a vegetarian for almost 10 years, but not anymore.I guess I did some stupid things concearning diet, if I didn’t get much healthier I’m absolutely sure that I got much wiser…I must say… I’m feeling better today, even though I know there’s much to improve. I got back home from the university and I was able to sit and study for about 2 hours.Maybe this means nothing to some people. To me it is a great accomplishment. I’m feeling more alive, although I still feel like my energy levels are quite low. Even if I feel like resting a bit, it is more unlikely that I will sleep.I think your remark on not taking things for granted is so important and true.Such a ‘simple’ thing as staying awake… most people won’t even think about it. But not being able to do it was ruining my life in many ways.Oh… It’s nice to know about ginger! I like it a lot! Can I consume it by itself (chewing or making tea of it) or it would be better to consume it in combination with other food?Considering what you said and something I saw on the internet I created a recipe, please tell me if you think it is ok: I did a kind of juice with apples and ginger (I processed everything in the blender) and then I cooked it. So it is not juice nor tea, it may be called an apple-ginger soup if you wish.I don’t remember the TCM classification on the nature of apples right now, but when I saw it i thought I should have some, but I was not sure if I should eat it raw…Thanks so much for your help!Leo,
trust me, I don’t like sleeping so much! I’m not having a good time.First of all, I feel like I’m wasting a lot of time and, second, it’s not that I sleep 10 hours and wake up vibrant, full of energy, ready to do my tasks… no.. I feel like a zombie, intoxicated may be a good word, or just sick.I should be doing a lot of intellectual work (mostly reading and writing), and I need a lot of focus not to fall asleep in the middle of it.I’m always ashamed to talk about this excessive sleepiness problem, because it sounds like I’m a lazy person…I’m not sure if I understand the concept of cold: is it just the temperature of the food or being raw is not good either? raw and cold is worse?For example, can I eat raw vegetables/fruits if they are at room temperature, or it would be better if I cooked them? (I’ve read something about this… a root like carrot would be more ‘yang’ (warm?) than a tomato? roots are ‘warmer’ than fruits? I’m not sure if this is a concept from TCM; if it is, then I have some idea on what I shouldn’t eat)I don’t care avoiding whatever you say is not good for me, if that gives me some perspective of improving my health. I’ll never have ice cream again, if that’s what I need to do to succeed.(i even ventured myself in a completely raw food diet for 18 months, I lost a lot of weight, but I wasn’t feeling as good as I expected I would, in such a ‘healthy’ diet)The only oolongs available for me are the Shui Xian (from Wu Yi), Rou Gui (Wu Yi), Snow Orchid (Dan cong – Guangdong) and Monkey Picked (An xi – Fujian). When you say ‘baked’, do you mean ‘roasted’? Is it the same?You suggested the Shui Xian. Concearning the ‘health notes’ on Rou Gui, it seems that it is not very good for me. What do you think about Snow Orchid and Monkey picked?I’m very grateful for your generosity, in sharing your knowledge and your time.I did the best I could on my own until now, unfortunately it wasn’t enough.I’m very positive about your suggestions, I think I’ll finally reach the improvement I’ve been searching for, all these years…Leo,thanks so much for this!For me, the most depressing thing is trying very hard to do this right and not being able to because there’s something I don’t know of. (But, I confess, I’d be a little sad if you told me I shouldn’t drink oolong, because it is my favorite!)I’ve tried many types of diet and I’m used to having restrictions.The irony of this, it seems, is that the more I avoid foods/drinks that are bad for me, the stronger effect I get from eating some of them inadvertedly.For example, today, after lunch, I felt extremely sleepy (and I was not sleep deprived), I just had to sleep for a few hours (I keep asking myself.. what did I eat? I suspect it was some dish with wheat, or maybe raw tomatoes and onions are harmful for me). I think the sleepiness is consequence of something I ate.I used to drink beer once in a while (once a week, at most), but after I began drinking tea regularly, I had a can of beer one day and I felt so sluggish that I was completely useless. I just had to lay down and sleep a couple of hours. I feel like I became more sensitive to it, I don’t know if it is related to tea drinking. i just don’t feel like drinking beer ever again, after this experience.Last year I spent most part of my days sleeping. I’d sleep at least 10 hours regularly, and on weekends i could sleep up to 12 hours… (this, plus the water retention, plus a tendency to inflammations on my skin, seem to be related symptoms; whenever one of these things get worse, I suspect of something I ate/drink…)I think this is related to what I said before, that even though I avoid harmful things, I end consuming something bad for me on a regular basis.It is a little difficult to know what it is sometimes, because we eat different things in a single meal. Maybe I think one thing is not good, but end up adding some other thing and it takes some time to distinguish.In some periods I would just get tired of this, and ended up eating whatever I wanted (needless to say, it didn’t help much). I guess I feel a little helpless sometimes, because I’ve been trying to figure this out for some years now. If I went to a doctor, he’d say that I’m completely healthy; I did some blood tests last year and the response I got was that I was in great shape.It puzzles me that some people will just eat all sorts of junk, and they seem to be great despite of this. But I guess each person is different.If you have any clues on salads and fruits that may be harmful for me, please tell me, it would be very helpful. Also, if possible, tell me what kinds of black tea would be harmful (would it be the case of Qi Men Zhu Ye Zhong from Anhui or Dian hong gong fu – Feng pian zhong from Yunnan?)(I guess I’ll just use that bai mu dan tea as a closet deodorizer, together with my green jasmine tea, which I suspect to be bad for me…)Thank you once again!Leo,
I contacted the shop, asking about brewing measures. They recommended that I did4g/250ml/70ºC/4-7minIt turned out quite fine.It sounds like a green tea brew, though.I did, as you suggested, 3g/250ml/90ºC/3min and it resulted very similar to the brew recommended by the shop, maybe only a little stronger in smell, but didn’t turn out bitter.I don’t know what to think of this. Do you think it doesn’t matter whether I use one measure or the other, if it tastes almost the same?
