Taking a break @ tea time

By ST.Fan -

Other than photography I have a passion for tea as well. As usual I am taking my tea break and this time is LongJing cha. In English LongJing cha means The Dragon-Well tea. LongJing cha is the national drink of China and ranks amongst the top 10 most famous tea from China.

In JiangNan area in China LongJing cha is mostly drank from a tall glass tumbler. The officials in Beijing prefer gaibei or lidded tea cup with their LongJing Cha. As for me, I have my Dragon Well tea with a tiny Zhu Ni teapot .

LongJing cha or Dragon-well tea in Chinese tea cup
Refreshing LongJing cha or Dragon-well tea in mini Chinese tea cup. - E-P1 Industar 61 L/Z 2.8/50mm, f4 1/4s ISO200

Many tea merchants have proclaimed that no one should use a teapot with LongJing cha. They said the delicate Long Jing tea leaves would get cooked by the heat in the teapot and spoil the taste. Well, if you know the reason "why" you can always overcome the problem with little difficulty.  Since the problem lies in overheating the delicate Dragon-Well tea leaves, so the solution to that problem is quite obvious and clear right? I have been using teapot with LongJing tea ever since I started drinking tea. The Dragon-Well tea from my teapot simply tastes great though I am no tea master.

I apply the same principle above to my photography. If a photograph didn't work try to find out why and what was wrong with it.  Working out a solution is easy once you know what's the problem. Sometimes it may be just a wrong choice of equipment or probably just as simple as taking one more step from where you took the photo.

While enjoying the refreshing LongJing cha, I was also admiring the tiny classic YiXing Zhu Ni tea pot and the Zhi Sha tea set. I decided to take out my camera and took some photographs of my tea set. So in a way I am taking a break during my tea break.

Chinese tea set with mini Zhu Ni tea pots
Chinese tea set with mini Zhu Ni tea pots, procelian tea cups and tea pitcher. - E-P1 Industar 61 L/Z 2.8/50mm, f5.6 1/4s ISO200

Ultimately did I enjoy the break with my tea break. Honestly it was not very enjoyable. The tea became cold and flat, the atmosphere and art of tea was lost for those moment. The photography session was not that great either because the focus was not there.  Well, that's the result of trying to do too many things at the same time.  You ended up not focusing on either one of them!

But will I do it again? I think I will. Why? Because I love both tea and photography and it's fun taking a break during tea break. Hmmmm ... am I contradicting myself or am I nuts? Maybe and maybe not but that is only human right? Just like Human League sang in its song Human  -  "I am only human,  born to make mistake!"


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