Hello friends! It’s wonderful to be back, sharing a cup of tea with you again. It seems that while I have been away in New Mexico, Fall has arrived on our doorstep and established itself here in New England.

While in Taos, I purchased a lovely lotus plate to display my tea leaves. The color reminds me of melted caramel, all ready to drizzle on a crisp red apple. Mmmm…

This morning I am sipping a cup of China green tea called Dong Yang Dong Bei.  The intact leaf sets show the fine plucking and meticulous hand crafting that takes place during its processing.

The tea is grown at approximately 2500 feet above sea level in Dong Yang county in Zhejiang Province in China. It is picked in the spring months of April and May right as the tea bushes are coming out of their winter dormancy.

I steeped the leaf for 3 minutes in 180 degree F water. As I lifted the lid of my teapot to remove the steeping basket, a delicate, floral aroma greeted me. As you can see, the tea liquor is quite pale.

The first word that came to mind as I poured my first cup was “soft”.

Everything about this tea is so soft – the color, the aroma, the taste. It is the kind of tea that brings you fully into the present moment to enjoy its wonderfully delicate qualities. I detected sweet and floral in the flavor notes. As there is only a whisper of vegetal quality, this would be a perfect tea for those tea lovers who don’t especially enjoy a pronounced vegetal (green) flavor.

After being constantly on the go during my 10-day vacation and then returning to work the day after my evening return, today is a good day for resting, relaxing and enjoying a gentle cup of tea. Or two. Or three.

Stay tuned, dear friends, for tales of my Taos journey…

There are only two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as though everything is a miracle.

~Albert Einstein