It’s a beautiful morning! And it’s just the perfect morning for some green tea. I’ve been in a gorgeous mood lately partly due to these steroids I’ve been on for this crazy skin rash I got a few weeks ago. At first I was on a very high dose and was extremely moody. One second I was happy and laughing, the next I was very depressed and crying for no reason. I don’t think the steroids and my anxiety go very well together. Anyhow my dose is much lower now and I’ve just got tons of energy without the extreme mood swings. Woohoo!
I wanted so badly to put up my Christmas tree yesterday. I know I know, it’s too early! But hear me out. When Nathan (boyfriend) and I bought it three years ago it was our first Christmas together and we were living in Texas at the time. I’ll never forget that part of our life together. Everything was so new and we were so fearless and free. So far away from our families having this crazy adventure together in Texas. We were so unbelievably happy even though things were tougher back then. That was the best Christmas of my life. Just me, Nathan, and Nixon (our first rat). No stress over where we had to be on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day – just the three of us together enjoying the holiday in our pajamas. We had a great Christmas too. Nathan got me a Zune HD and I got him a PS3. Nixon got a brand new cage and tons of stuff to fill it with. I’d just love to go back to that time.
The next year we were living with my parents after having just moved back home from Texas so our tree was in storage. And it sat there all through the holiday season. This year I can’t wait to get that tree out and put it up! I don’t think three or four weeks to enjoy it will be enough this year! So I don’t care what anyone says, that tree is going up either tomorrow or the next day. Ahhh…memories
I’ve been making everything I can get my hands on in my gaiwan lately so of course I opted for gaiwan style here this morning. I’ve got time to really sit back and enjoy making this tea. I was a little surprsied by the brewing guide on Teavivre’s website. 4 steeps: rinse, 20s,40s,1m20s,2m. Only four steeps? And such long last steeps? I think I’m just going to wing this one because 2 minutes seems like a long time.
I really like this green. It’s so easy to drink. It’s just the right amount of vegetal goodness without any bitterness at all. It’s very smooth, relaxing, even a little buttery.
I’m on the fifth steep now and I’ve steeped this one for about 40 seconds. The wet leaves smell like spring time and look like fresh cut grass. The liquor is smiling yellow and it makes me really happy. The taste is a bit light (I’ll steep longer on the next one) but still very good. I’m finding a little nuttiness in this steep which is interesting. Something I hadn’t noticed before.
On to steep number six and I’m going to let this one go for a whole minute and see what happens. Learning how to use my gaiwan is so much fun to me. I’ve finally realized that you don’t need to be perfectly strict about the whole thing, trying to time everything down to the exact second per the steeping suggestions. I can just sorta go with the flow. It’s fun because you really learn about the tea this way by experiencing it in different layers. Seeing what a few extra seconds or grams will do to change the overall experience. A minute was a nice choice here. The nuttiness is coming out more and that smooth profile is getting a little more grassy. Delicious!
Sometimes…no, often…the toughest times turn out to be the happiest!
You are right about that. It’s a shame we only realize it when we look back…