Thursday, December 30, 2010

The Captains and the Kings depart

The tumult and the shouting dies—
The Captains and the Kings depart—

The last rays of 2010's sun on the Himalaya north of Kathmandu and an end to a tumultuous decade. Looking back on the decade brings to mind these lines by Kipling:

Far-called our navies melt away—
On dune and headland sinks the fire—
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Will the 2001-2010 decade be considered as significant as the year 1979 in world history? Only time will tell.


Friday, December 24, 2010

One hand clapping

Zen master Hakuin Ekaku 白隠 慧鶴 (1685 - 1768) asked what is the sound of one hand clapping (隻手の音声) ? Is it silence? Or silent echo? Maybe the non pursuit of an answer. Or is it your emotions? Each must come to his own personal answer.

What is the taste of tea? Is it the considered opinion of tea masters and tasters? Like the sound of one hand clapping each must come to his own conclusion distilled from an open mind filled with nothingness. Ultimately it may just be what the slogan in the tea salon of G Clef in Koenji, Tokyo says: Mirror of the Spirit.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

So goodbye yellow brick road
Where the dogs of society howl
You can't plant me in your penthouse
I'm going back to my plough

Back to the howling old owl in the woods

Hunting the horny back toad
Oh I've finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road.

Music & Vocals: Elton John
Lyrics: Bernie Taupin
Album released in 1973

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Madogiwa Zoku 窓際族


When I was in school in Darjeeling my English literature teacher, Miss Cynthia Hawke who was from Australia, used to repeatedly tell us how lucky we were to be in a class room with one of the best views in the world: Kanchenjunga to the north and a lovely view of the tea gardens right below our class rooms going down all the way to Rungeet and Teesta rivers. Picture on top of Mount Kanchenjunga is what that view from the class room was like.

Perhaps childhood memories of Darjeeling: happy days in school with views of the tea gardens and Kanchenjunga always looming large behind and the wonderful aroma of manufactured tea wafting from the tea factories played a part in our decision to start a tea garden in Nepal.

These days I often remember Miss Hawke when I look at the Himalaya from my office window in Patan-Kathmandu. The mountain vista stretches from the north west all the way to the north east a distance of ca. 200-300 km. The picture at the bottom, Ganesh Himal, is one of them. Alas no tea gardens here!

Am I a lucky member of the Madogiwa Zoku (窓際族) to have had rooms with a view? Maybe I am not completely useless like those in the original term but definitely lucky!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Art of Food







Can art be food? Or food be art? Japanese have made presentation of food into fine art. Here some visually stunning presentation of food encountered in Japan recently is shown: parts of a Kaiseki meal (nimono and reiten oroshi soba) in the top two images; the third image is Japanese green tea and the last two images are of desserts in Japanese and western style. All very artistically done.

The question is, can one eat art? Won't it be a sacrilege to eat these artistic creations? Can one eat them without destroying them?

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Himalayan Fragrance

Fragrant hand rolled Himalayan tea is matched with visually pleasing Japanese sweets in a Kyoto tea school. These autumn themed candies were not so sweet and went surprisingly well with the tea. This particular tea reacted very well to the water in Japan producing a brilliant flavour and superb aroma. This tea is now available in Japan.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Zen Vanity

Perfect calm and solitude of a Zen garden ( 枯山水 Karesansui) at Ryogin-an in Tofuku-ji temple complex, Kyoto. Garden of Vanity and its simple design with colourful autumn leaves in the background.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Tea colours

After momijigari in Gifu ken, Hotta san of Liyn An Tea in Owariasahi City (尾張旭市) in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, prepares to taste four bowls of teas from the Himalaya in his tea shop. Coincidentally the multi coloured teas seem to reflect and carry on the theme of colourful autumn leaves.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Momijigari Gifu



Autumn colours at Eihoji (永保寺) temple in Tajimi in Gifu prefecture, Japan. The yellow Iccho tree (Ginko) at the bottom dates from 1332

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Tea ceremony 茶の湯


Preparing powdered tea probably started in Tang period in China by pulverising tea bricks and was refined during the Song period. However now it only exists in a meaningful way in Japan where there is an elaborate formal ceremony to prepare Matcha or powdered green tea. Here, in an informal setting Matcha is whisked in a prescribed way by a student under a watchful eyes of the tea master. The tea must be uniform and frothy ensuring that no residue remains on the side of the bowl. It is then then served along with some sweets.






Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Le Rouge et le Noir

Le Rouge et le Noir ca. 1830 (The Red and the Black) is a novel by Stendhal recording a man's attempt to rise beyond his common background with a combination of talent and hard work, deception and hypocrisy.

Red Tea in East Asia is commonly called Black Tea in South Asia and Europe. This image is a metaphor for our attempt to create teas that rises beyond the common by a combination of talent, hard work and imbibing the deep knowledge of teas in Japan and Taiwan and discarding the "Not Invented Here" attitude.

Unlike Stendhal's novel there is no deception or hypocrisy in this Le Rouge et le Noir! Only lots of gratitude towards our 先生 (teachers) and this post is dedicated to them.

Monday, November 15, 2010

August Autumn

Alaska's August autumn. As the landscape in Denali, Alaska turns russet in late August a lonely deer makes the most of the few precious weeks before the snows.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Ueda

Ueda Castle (上田城) in a glorious pale yellow autumn colour of an Iccho (Gingko) tree. This castle has an oblique but interesting connection to the Battle of Sekigahara ( 関ヶ原の戦 ) in 1600 that paved the way for Tokugawa Bakufu / Tokugawa Shogunate that continued until Meji Restoration in 1868.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Nagano colours

Each grass and each tree
takes on a hundred colours.
For these white flowers
blooming on the tossing sea,
there is no autumn season.


Fun'ya no Yasuhide 文屋 康秀
ca. 885? / Heian period

Friday, October 8, 2010

Autumn Harvest

Autumn harvest in Banepa valley, central Nepal. How wonderful it is to have the sweet fragrance of freshly cut paddy assaulting our olfaction. I despair for such pretty places. I wonder how long it will be before some ghastly structures come up in the name of development. That would be a truly bitter harvest.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Tilt and Turn



Tilting tea pots solve the big problem of over steeping the tea, specially in restaurants and cafes. Through a clever mechanism one can brew that perfect cup(s) of tea.

There is a shelf inside the pot into which tea leaves are put and steeped in hot water. Once the brew is ready tilt the pot to let the brewed tea drain to the bottom and finally stand the pot upright so that the brewed tea is not in contact with the tea leaves. Then pour and drink that perfect brew. This picture was taken in Restaurant Fischereihaven in Hamburg, Germany.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Food for Thought

....Wasn't that a dainty dish,
To set before the king?
(from an old English nursery rhyme)

Somehow I find small quantities of well presented good food more fulfilling than large amounts of food just ladled out carelessly, no matter how delicious. This picture of some absolutely delectable sashimi in Tokyo is a testament to that sentiment.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Big and Small


Above: On the way to Mirik in Darjeeling. Possibly Thurbo tea estate. That is typical of Darjeeling: large tea plantations.

Below: The distinctive way of farming tea in Nepal just a few kilometers away from Darjeeling: small and compact farmer's garden.

In Nepal small farmers rule the roost and supply their leaves to tea factories some of whom may have a smallish tea gardens of their own. Which is the better way: large plantations or small tea farmers? Maybe there is no better way. Just different paths leading to the same goal of trying to make good teas.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Holy Land

A spiritually uplifting autumn morning in the Himalaya with pristine green landscape and cool, clear, crisp mountain air. Tea grown here imbibes these qualities. Is it any wonder then drinking it calms the mind, comforts the tormented and transports body, mind and soul to a higher realm?

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Eye candy

Typical rural Japan. Neat, clean, tidy and positively photogenic. This is around Wazuka 和束町near Kyoto. I wonder why anyone would want to exchange this bucolic charm for the urban jungle.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

70%

Don't let the neat rows of tea bushes in Wazuka near Kyoto dazzle you. Look at the forest cover in the background. 70% of the country is under forest cover. Yet, this is a country that has one of the highest population density per square kilometer; lots of industries and urban sprawl competing for every inch of space with agriculture. So how do they do it? Perhaps the tea bushes hold the answer. When things are done so meticulously and with so much love then almost anything is possible.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

四季春 Sikiharu : Four Seasons Spring

Cold winter rain
Red blossom shoots by
Tokyo spring

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Imperfection



There is no superficial glitz nor glamour and there are always some imperfections in the process of manufacturing tea. However there is pleasure even in that imperfection. Simplicity and sincerity like the way this girl is sorting her tea is what makes the imperfect beautiful.

Transient Beauty

Dark clouds threaten to make the tea gardens even more green in Fikkal, Ilam in east Nepal. It was such a magical moment but beauty is transient and after a few minutes that magic was gone.