Why Seek out Old Tea?

Old tea is a discipline unto itself within the culture of Tea. The first thing to remember is that good tea has the potential to become good old tea, but that simply being old doesn't necessarily mean its good. Some of the saltier among us recall the appraisal of people -- which I apply here to aged tea -- that wisdom comes with age, but most often age simply comes alone. Having heard this line from a well seasoned Yoga teacher, I take it to be more or less spiritually sacrosanct. The second most important lesson to keep in mind is that words, either written or spoken on behalf of a tea, mean very little. Those of us who've been around a while generally pick up on the fact that most people (particularly tea vendors) that have to go on and on explaining why a tea is great, expensive or rare, are most often best avoided. With truly great teas, as with true experts in Vintage tea, words are often few. Some guidance is perhaps appreciated and most experts will answer any questions as best they can. That being the case, a truly good tea requires no explanation as to why it is good. We can miss out on a great deal of what a good tea has to say by gabbing on about it. In my experience, as with that of countless others, the inclination to quantify a tea by the measuring sticks of tasting wheels, flavor chart, scores of ten -- or ten thousand -- are functionally meaningless. My venerable teacher of tea once said: words can deceive, wrappers can mislead and the mind can play tricks upon us, but the energy of a tea never lies. How then do we tap in, tune into , the energy of fine tea. The simplest answer is perhaps to listen not so much to the presenter of tea, or to what others or even ourselves say about a tea. Instead it is suggested to listen to the tea itself. This process of settling down, of entering into and unifying with the process of the tea session, will guide us beyond the capacity of any books on the subject. It is a natural feature of human nature to try and possess a thing by obtaining knowledge of it. While this may work in some aspects of life, it is far too limited when it comes to the world of tea. Tea is a kaleidescope experience, an adaptogen, a touchstone. It changes within each moment and will appear different to each person who drinks it. Any attempts to pin and mount it like a butterfly in a frame is to miss the mark entirely. Creating reviews of teas is a necessary act in the art of sales. At best though  it can only allude to the experience of the thing. It is a bit like putting on makeup in the dark. It, perhaps, can be accomplished by some -- though these are already well practiced at doing it while looking into a mirror.