Artisanship

This fall I was riding my motorcycle back form a camping trip and I rode strait past Bristol Pottery.  My interest had been piqued and I turned around and went back.  

I walked up and a man came out to talk to me.  He was the artist and the man running the studio.  He showed me around and told me about his studio and his work.

I can tell he has an immense appreciation for life and nature, something I think we have in common.  

He and his work represents an image very special to me.  It's an image of doing what you love, being good at it, and sharing it with others.  

To people like us the word "handmade" doesn't mean something is better or more functional.  It's a connection between people.  When we know where things come from and who made them we feel more connected to the world.  It doesn't matter if the object was made 60 miles away, or 6000 miles away.  

That't not to say that his work isn't functional or high quality. In fact quite the opposite.  All of his work is oven, microwave, and dishwasher safe.  

I ended up buying two of the cups on the small center table.  They are my favorite cups and if he ever decides to make a teapot, I'll buy one.  

Tea as a whole

I've always enjoyed tea.  I used to drink tea from teabags.  Things simply labelled "green tea" or "Ceylon Tea".  Not because I had no appreciation, but because I had no idea how deep and complex a thing tea is.  Tea is not only a drink.  Tea is a pastime, a tradition, a culture, a way of life, a connection to one other, and a drink. Tea can put us in touch with deep transcendental values that are worth much more than, caffeine value, health benefits, and weight loss.  

Last fall I stumbled upon Teavana.  I was fascinated by whole leaves and these new teas I had no idea existed.  At that point I didn't even know what oolong was.  I wasn't however, fascinated with the prices.  They were prohibitive and I didn't end up purchasing anything.  

I went home, started reading and interest turned into obsession.  I would devour every scrap of information I could get and ordered loads of samples of unblended tea from adagio.  I couldn't get enough! I started searching for a local tea shop to fuel my new found addiction.  I found Tea Harbor and discovered how good Chinese tea can get!  Then I discovered The Green Teaist where I learned about Japanese tea.  

Now I get most of my tea from specialty websites because I'm always searching for something new and unusual or just really good tea.  That's not to say that non-specialty shops don't have good tea, or that good tea is limited to the exclusive or rare.  In fact I wouldn't consider tea an exclusive thing whatsoever! Many people obsess over this saying that "True tea only comes from the camellia sinensis,".  I say as long as it's steeped in water, and you enjoy it, it's tea!  I'll add that I like to say that coffee is arguably a type of tea, however heretical it may be.

The tea was good by the way!  It was Tie Guan Yin from Tea Harbor!  I think it's not oxidized enough, closer to baozong style than Tie Guan Yin.  Great none the less!