Like a jigsaw puzzle each tea is a puzzle waiting to be put together. Each piece may be formed from a memory or a moment of revelation that comes from a tea session, discussion or research. To complete your jigsaw puzzle you will need to collect all the pieces you seek and put them together.
There is something special about drinking the same tea for over 10 years. It changes the way you look at tea. Such a journey provides a familiarity and time for reflection and thought that allows you to develop new dimensions, deeper perceptions and appreciation for the tea you have. Each tea session in the moment feels unique but over time becomes distant memories. The real treasure lays in the infinite wisdom accumulated at the end of the journey when you have piece by piece put together and created for yourself what I like to call - The Big Picture.
The Big Picture can be complex and take a lifetime to build and understand. Each person’s expectation and goals varies and as a result our view and creation of The Big Picture is unique. For me I seek time concealed knowledge on the aging of puerh tea that covers a wide range of categories. Much of my interest focuses on the key transitions of a puerh tea as it develops from young to adolescence and to reaching maturity. For appreciation I seek an understanding of the different conditions (ex. weather, food parings, self cultivation) and best practice (ex. brewing technique, equipment, tea to water ratio, water treatment) that allows me to optimize the preparation and enjoyment of tea. For many of the teas in my collection a passing decade is an insufficient amount of time. The Big Picture remains a work in progress piece by piece.