
Tea in the Beginning (2007) - B1FF_PSUVM
http://www.lcy.net/tea/ch1.php
======
bionoid
Tea is a _very_ broad and interesting subject. Even if you ignore
culture/history and just look at what you can buy today, and drink.. it's more
than you can reach over. Climate/environment/elevation, species/cultivars,
harvest time, processing method, age/storage method, and countless other
factors play in.. You'll go broke trying to taste it all.

Babelcarp Chinese Tea Lexicon [0] is very useful if you are exploring tea
culture. I will also throw in Baisao [1] as worth a read - if Zen monk turned
tea seller sounds like your kind of thing.

[0]
[http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp/](http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp/)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baisao](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baisao)

~~~
Tharkun
Not to mention tea pots and cups. There's an almost endless variety of
materials, shapes, sizes, glazes, finishes, decorations etc.

My personal favourite tea pot is a traditional chinese blue clay pot. And a
potter friend made me a set of wonderful and unique tea cups with a raku
finish.

I love writing code, but goodness me am I ever _passionate_ about tea.

~~~
bionoid
> Not to mention tea pots and cups.

Oh absolutely, and let's not forget the middle between leaves and teaware:
brewing technique. It's _incredibly_ wide, ranging from decorative chaxi to
"obviously bullshit" mid-air hand gestures to straight up science (heat
retention, fermentation, etc).

> but goodness me am I ever passionate about tea.

It's a great hobby. However, my advice to beginners is always to keep the
passion and dreams in check when it comes to purchasing decisions. If you
think software marketing is bad and full of buzzwords ... don't try tea.

