圣诞树 Christmas Tree

I remember the time I met a lady the first time I was in Sweden, a land of christmas celebration, and she took me around their home and shown me their christmas tree. Although I already do get excited of christmas then, but I don´t think I really knew other traditions about it other than the big food preparations and giving and receiving christmas cards and gifts.

I asked her " Why do you purposely show your christmas tree, is it some kind of tradition?" And she answered " Well, it´s supposedly to make everyone happy, and I think it´s reason enough to try my best to make it as beautiful as I can every year and show it to everyone who comes by my home and make them happy!" Since then, every year I never failed to put up a tree and make it beautiful to show everyone who comes by my home and make them happy!

So it was actually sometime now that I also wanted to post it here to make everyone who pass by happy and tell about this lady and the christmas tree, but obviously I hesitated. Would Santa ever bother to come to our home and look at the tree if I post its picture here now? Today, I decided to bake a cake. I thought I´d try the chiffon cake my mother used to bake on occassions. I was then just a tiny little girl busy running around, while my mother tries her best with what she and other chinese friends learned about what the west called the chiffon cake.

The batter started to appear nicely, and smelled so good. And while bravely scraping some orange peals on the batter, because I´m actually allergic to it when it´s not yet baked, my mind suddenly cleared up. Those aromas reminds me of those time, when child and never question anyone, anything or Santa, but just happily show all the lovely dolls and toys, and believe I´d be getting again this year.

Yes, perhaps just like Chadao, its a road actually difficult to see where it is leading to, but oh ... the aroma of the baked cake I used to enjoy and never question. It´s not even its delicious taste later, or the happy sight of my father gulping it down later, it´s just an aroma to inhale, the sight of a cake slowly rising up, the beautiful christmas tree, supposedly to make everyone happy that very moment, is reason enough. I think it´s what they call faith, which sometimes, for a while one loses it .... but always it´s never too late to grab it again ....

Here our tree, supposedly to make everyone happy, and so I never stop to try my best, and with help of the family of course, to make it beautiful every year, and show everyone who passed by and hopefully enjoy it .....and with apology of neglecting friends while I´m too busy worrying if Santa is coming or not, I say: Happy Holiday and Tea to everyone!

东亚圣诞 East Asian Christmas

Photo: En Kopp Zen tehus

There are still lots of news, recensions and stories from our travel notes to be told, but all pictures are still in the camera, and waiting for down loading. That and another matter which will probably keep things in suspension for awhile, but in the meantime anyway Christmas is coming and we have actually been busy preparing for it for many days now, which I thought I´d love to share everyone with still another one or two posts, and then hopefully I´ll see everyone again some time next year.

So now anyway, being chinese but love celebrating christmas and still believe in Santa, can be a little bit complicated specially when it comes to decorations, but with extra creativeness, the whole family give it a try every year, and never stop hoping it´s a success everytime. Above is one of our creation, which I have posted as holiday greeting on all our webb pages, and with which I hope will make everyone´s tea drinking really special with the right spirit of the holiday.

Another thing I´m happy to share with everyone is that, to celebrate this christmas of 2009, I have enable a donation button to our Help Program which is giving support to The Tibetan Children´s Village in Dharamsala, India. On 2001 when I started this teahouse, I also started an exchange school program between Tibet and Sweden. The program is not exactly big but it has done what it could. Around year 2002 for this humble charitable initiative I have done, I had the honor to be a recipient of the e-mail address of Jetsun Penna, the sister of his Holiness The Dalai Lama. And for a year or two I tried to raise some amount for the Tibetan Children´s Village in Dharamsala, India , where Mrs. Lobsang Tsomo is the project coordinator and my direct contact in this matter.

For a year or two I was able to raise a very humble amount only, but enough to have brought in some more tibetan children from Tibet to India according to the report of TCV´s news report on Metok, winter issue 2006, ( page 34, referred to as Exchange School and Help Project from Sweden) . I have always wanted to put more effort on this activity, but not exactly a great converser I actually find it somehow difficult to do so. On March this year, strongly encouraged by a friend, I started bloging. I don´t really believe in bloging by then, but found it later kind of fun actually as I realized how I actually enjoy writing some line or two, and find it therefore fun way for me to reach friends.

And yesterday as I was decorating I thought I´ll celebrated this christmas with putting a little more effort on this program to support The Tibetan Children´s Village, who needs help, and which I will be writing more about them. These paypal donation buttons are all over our pages , Please donate as soon as the donation buttons are functional on december 30, 2009! I will give my donation as soon as the buttons are in full function, please give yours too!

茶叙会 Ett litet te prat bara

Foto: En Kopp Zen Tehus

Första gången jag fick se det här sättet att köra Gong Fu Cha var på en film av Ang Lee, Eat Drink Man Woman. Det handlar om att hitta rätt recept till lyckan. Jag har fortfarande inte kunnat hitta information till filosofin bakom det här sättet att utföra Gong fu cha, men tyckte i alla fall att att kunna lämna en brygg kanna av sig själv ovanpå sin serverings kanna, liknar en människa som kan lämna ifrån sig saker litet till ödet. Att kunna släppa kontrollen eller taget litet och lita på att allting kommer att bli bra. Att brygg kannan kommer inte att ramla ner, då ödet verkar ändå redan ihop byggt så allting ska passa som det ska. Det är klart att man skall kanske inte vara så tanklös, som Ang Lee vill kanske komma fram som ett av bra recepterna, när man ska göra allvarliga saker som att placera en brygg kanna i sitt öde ovanpå den servering kanna.

Hursomhelst, tycker jag i alla fall det är gulligt att se Gong Fu Cha på det här viset, särskilt med de söta små kopparna som sitter ihop så där som små gulliga svampar som jag ser görs i vissa teceremonier i Kina. Apropå gullighet, är inte den här videon av James Morrison gullig. Det låter tycker jag som något rart te som vill gärna bli förstod. Det är i för sig inte så lätt, särskilt när det verkar så rart te, och jag som oftast kan vara så tanklös som te drickare.

普洱茶:躯壳 Cooked Pu´erh 2008: The body sheltering the soul

Photo: En Kopp Zen Tehus

After having tasted Raw Pu´erh cake 2008, I just couldn´t almost wait until I can taste the cooked one from the same year. As I am writing these lines, I am really trying not to look at my recension on the raw pu´erh. I thought I´d compare them later. What are the differences? It is my first curiousity.

When I open this cooked pu´erh 2008, I thought, it smelled like some chinese preserved fruits, stocked in such a long time it even smells like other preserved chinese dry goods, such as dry fish or svamps. It´s like entering some chinese dry goods store in the old time. It made me become a bit more serious like something different is going to happen.

Brew 1: I poured the warm water, and got panicked as the color turned into a dark red color so fast that I still couldn´t drink it as it is still warm. When the temperature finally become drinkable, I was already afraid it has become bitter. I put my lips on the cup and carefully sipped the now very dark red almost maroon colored tea. I couldn´t explain the kind of great feeling I felt, but it´s some kind of happiness. Amazingly, no bitterness! The liquid tasted like there was some mildly salted butter in it, and some other nutritious substance I couldn´t explain. The taste and smell is so rich, I felt like a poor hungry girl who finally got some food after not having eaten in such a long time. I suddenly felt thankful of all the blessings we have and felt so ashamed for those times I might have complain about some lousy food sometimes, or like I use to complain about having to find the same food everytime in the supermarket.

Brew 2: Like the first brewing only more intensive, and the tea texture has thickened with creamy taste. Suddenly the winter doesn´t seem so dark like I usually thought. Both the color and the content of the tea is giving me the energy and enthusiasm I need for the tough winter, yet some kind of control, like that of the buddhist teaching of acquiring happiness through not being overly happy or enthusiastic. And when I look at the color it has now become really so dark in red color, that I am even reminded of the blessing of just life itself, that I am alive and breathing. It reminded me of the tibetans tea with fats, only now for the first time I wasn´t surprise at all that these buddhists´tea tastes that way.

Brew 3: The color has now subsided a bit, but the taste is in fact stronger, amazingly with the butterly and milky taste more distinct. It made me wonder if this is how the brittish got the idea of adding milk in their tea. It also made me wonder if this is why butter and milk are the first things we want to see in the morning (except for those on diet of course), or to this matter even rice for chinese breakfast. (Unabused) their taste is so rich it is satisfying for both body and soul.

And now after having done this recension, I looked at the two other Pu´erhs I have written about in this blog and compared. And I could say that this cooked Pu´erh 2008, tastes almost like the pu´erh 1993 I have tasted before, which probably says that this pu´erh from 1993 I was not sure about is also cooked??

And compared with the raw pu´erh from the same year 2008 I have tasted recently, they both tasted creamy with milk but not of butter, where I only tasted it on the cooked ones from year 1993 and this one from 2008. And I seemed to have only experienced those fresher aroma of fruits, menthol and tobacco in raw pu´erh. So now my question is, is this is how to identify raw from cooked ones? Surely I still have to go on tasting pu´erh teas, before I can find the answer to these questions I have, but what I can conclude right now anyway is: It seems like I really love pu´erh more than any other tea.

瑞典现在的青年人和茶 Hur går ungdomarna med te i svensk samhället

Problemen när man åker iväg är alltid växter och husdjur, särskilt när det var kort varsel. Den här gången fick vi hjälp av Naomis kompisar. Det blev Sebastian som skall ta hand om växter, Gordon om stora hunden Flipp, och Jens har tagit hand om den lilla hunden, Laika. De här kompisarna är lika gamla som Naomi, så ni kan kanske tänka er hur nervöst det har varit om de kunde verkligen klara ansvaret hela tre veckor.

De har lovat att det skall bli bra med hundarna och växterna, så jag och tjejerna har bara försökt och ha roligt under semestern. Tiden går fort när man har roligt, som sagt, och efter tre veckor är vi hemma. Vågar jag öppna dörren?, tänkte jag. Det gjorde jag till slut. Oooj, jag kunde inte tro mina ögon!

Bilder: (ovan) Vår hund Laika ( Under) vår hund Flipp

Först kom Jens nästa dagen med ... en springande TJOCK LAIKA! Herregud, hur hon har blivit sååå rund! Och så glad att det syns verkligen hur hon har mått så bra med Jens under de här veckorna, och säkert blivit bortskämd ordentligt då hon har aldrig varit så rund som en bulle tänkte jag. Sedan dagen efter kom Gordon med Flipp också. Pigg och med glänsande päls! Så imponerande, särskilt när Flipp är en sån egentligen överkänslig hund, men att Gordon hade klarat detta är nästan en underverk. Sedan kom då Sebastian och Johan dagen efter också och skulle hämta några saker åt Naomi. Jag gav dem sakerna och skulle precis säga hej då, när Sebastian frågade: Hur tyckte du om växterna? Ush! Av för mycket saker att ordna, jag glömde ju nästan att det var Sebastian som tog hand om växterna. Ja, det var det precis som jag inte kunde tro mina ögon med, när jag öppnade dörren .... jag har aldrig sett våra växter så gröna! Blomman som jag trodde har nu visnat är så pigg, och orkideér har blommat! Jag som tveckade i början och tyckte faktiskt att Sebastian ser mer ut som ha ha växter mördare, tänkte jag, men vilka gröna fingrar!

Ja, om man undrar hur är ungdomarna i vårt samhälle idag, så här är dem! Ansvarsfulla!! Och att inte glömma en till sak. Vilken sammanträffande, att Naomi råkades med några till kompisar från Sverige i Hongkong! Jag såg inte dem vid buss stop. Vad trodde ni de gjorde? De kom närmare, väntade om jag skulle kunna känna igen dem, och sedan korrekt och artigt presenterade de sig själva. Vilka respekfulla ungdomar! Det här är igen en annan sak som jag och säkert alla andra föräldrar kan vara stolt om Sverige särskilt i vår kommun. Vi uppfostrar duktiga och ansvarfulla barn / ungdomar, som säkert kommer att vara Sveriges ännu ljusare framtid. Dricker de te? Ja, båda när jag har mitt tehus bredvid skolan i Tanumshede, och när Naomi och Le Ly har de här kompisarna hemma. Och gissa hur duktiga de är .... de dricker te med Gong Fu Cha!!

不副所望 No expectations

Noodles with home made meatballs and eggs is always something I cook for everyone before a long journey. This is of course nothing. With family and friends in china and Taiwan, we have to be able to digest all ( at least! ) 4 eggs, both during welcome and goodbye moments. And then incense has to be lighted and offered to Buddha, gods and ancestors. Made sure all bags are totally in lucky number, and also made sure we go out the main front door.

Supertitious? Religious? Well I believe too much in freedom of mind to be religious, so maybe no, and after all those time with natural science and mathematics in college and the university, let´s just say, it´s just some kind of instinctive need for precaution and premeditation in everything I am about to do probably. It trains my mind to follow rules. It gives me some time of tranquility before the big moment. With peaceful mind that all things were done accordingly, my journeys, or to this matter anything else important I do, always go smoothly too. Besides, I love traditions, it reminds me of how I belong to a family with many generations in history, my elders elders elders, all honored and "watching down at me", makes me feel strong and safe, probably like those rooted (tea) plants.

This kind of moment reminds me of the raw puerh 2008 I just drank as soon as I arrived home from this trip three weeks after. It is one of those teas that I wouldn´t eat anything with, as the tastes give me such harmony, I don´t want anything else comes in between and destroy the sensation. When I open the tea package, a smell spread and my brain identify it as of strawberry and ginger. Yet, that´s too ordinary compared to the taste it gave me later.

Brew 1: First a mild menthol like taste came, and then a smoke like flavour which reminds me of Lapsang Souchong, only milder. A bit of bitterness reminds me of the seriousness of things that occassionally interfere in our life, and later some milk taste which seems to promise me that despite it everything would be alright.

Brew 2: almost the same as the first one, only the sweetness of this milk like taste came out first this time, while the water´s consistence has thickened. Can this be like assurance instead of just promises to be broken?, I asked myself.

Brew 3: First an aroma of sugared strawberry, and then when I sipped it, this is when I was really impressed. From so many flavor: mild menthol, tobacco !?, sweet, and lots of theanine, came this one wholesome taste that almost explained how right attitude can win all kinds of complication in life.

This is one of those teas that clear my mind. And with this I would like to say that my tea recensions are never exactly recommendations to these particular teas only. I almost never recommend any particular tea to anyone in my teahouse, if possible. Everyone has different taste from one another. Who can say about a tea differs as to also who is the drinker. So actually my recensions only speak more on my own tasting experience, on how I am as a tea drinker, and my attitude towards tea and The Chadao maybe, and so in return, what sensational reward I do get from them.

In my experience tea are like people or even anything else around me. Even the most exlusive and highly qualified tea, with wrong attitude and reception, it would be as revolting as a poison. It is giving the tea a chance to share its qualities, and harmonizing myself to these qualities, that I think makes the tea genuinely exquisite. As tea drinker, I find this very important. The nature, tea, farmers, and merchants have already done their best, it is now up to me to do my part too.

So whenever I myself buy some tea, I never let myself be confused of so many differrent teas, or be scared off by negative recensions. I try not to hesitate on new things or places always. Without expectation I just try them. I usually buy as many different as possible, even just a portion at first, and find my own favorites. So I usually tell my guests to do the same, and they usually have much fun discovering their own favorites too!

So probably, I´m never and would never be as good as anyone in the tea world here. As a matter of fact I probably can´t even say the name of many teas that still there are, but what I can maybe assure though is, I do have this one attitude when drinking tea: I don´t expect anything out of it. So back to my post´s entré, as always I just did the traditional ritual supposedly be done according to my culture, but never have any expectation out of it, and there it was.... what a wonderful journey it has been.