“Tea” as a word of the English language has enjoyed about four hundred years of use. It’s changed in that time, like most words in the English language; it wasn’t always pronounced “tee”. But that’s getting ahead of myself.
Sinitic “Cha” Derivative
Min Nan Chinese “Te” Derivative
Other Derivative
Figure Source
I concluded The Tea Road by writing out just under half a dozen pages of notes. Mostly items and subjects I’d like to follow up on, if I could, by finding other resources on the subject. Unfortunately, most of them aren’t related enough directly to the Tea Road for me to string into a linear blog post, unless someone wishes for me to list out a series of random facts about tea (I’ll call a vote on it, and get back to you; I’ll most likely make it anyways, if I lose interest in trying to find out more information on each subject). Although that’s seriously what I’m considering doing.
All in all, I quite liked the book, and despite my earlier qualms (brought up in the first post), I’d definitely recommend it. The author’s story becomes easier to follow as the book progresses, and the habit of reciting the endnotes word-for-word in the text become… less frequent, at least. I’m of the opinion the repeated endnotes are simply the result of an editor who failed to proofread the endnotes alongside the actual text. Continue reading
While I’m working on Part Two, I figured I’d make a post about more random gear I threw my money at.
The last Tea Desire in my area’s going out of business (a moment of silence, please, as they’re slowly pushed out by DavidsTeas), but I managed to score a bunch of discount items from them. Mostly some nice tins (they sell a lot of random, colourful tins that aren’t tied to their company logo in any way, which is good), a nice mug (no picture available), and this tea pot that I’ve been eyeing ever since the first Tea Desire opened up all those years ago in the mall across from my work.
It’s the end of my latest term, and once again time for me to start up in Independent Studies.
I’ve been waiting all term to check out a certain book from my university library, knowing I wouldn’t have time to read it until after exams. One of the best parts of transferring to a new school is perusing their collection of tea-related books. My last school introduced me to The Book of Tea, and Tea in Japan: Essays on the History of Chanoyu (see Bookshelf for more information).
Here, I’ve found The Tea Road: China and Russia Meet Across the Steppe, by Martha Avery, detailing the lesser-known, Northern cousin of the Silk Road and Tea Horse Roads. Best bet is to look up “Siberian Route” on Wikipedia for more information.
The book details the history of its inception and follows its formation, roughly, from China to Russia.
I’ve been taking notes.
As per usual, I have no actual article written or interesting things to discuss. I’ve just got some updates to my tea life.
Firstly, a new tea shop has opened up in my area. SOKO Teahouse. They are a very modern-traditional shop. Clean and open and bright, while focusing heavily on Chinese and Japanese brewing utensils and teas. I’ve been in there a few times already, and I really like the feel. Since Tealicious closed down their brick storefront, the only shop near me (most require an hour busride, which I’m willing to make–but only once or twice a month) has been Davids. Which I admit is a guilty pleasure of mine (52Teas fix without having to wait for orders to come in), but does get a bit boring. Though they’ve been branching out into unflavoured teas recently, which pleases me.
Thought I’d just make a quick post to bring to attention this comment, from “David” at Murchies, which clears up a few of the discrepancies I mentioned in my ramble about Murchies. Amusingly, this comment was made about a month ago, but I never got a notification for it, so I only just came across it.
DAVID wrote:Amazingly thurough post which I enjoyed reading, thanks. To help explain the name confusion regarding John Raith/Raitt Murchie. Raith and Raitt are the same name and are both pronounced the same. Raith is how you spell it for a scottish reader and Raitt is how you spell it for an english reader. If my memory serves John spelt his name “Raith” on his wedding certificate, but his name on the death certificate is “Raitt”. I suspect the Susan which gave you information about a ‘Douglas’ may have gotten confused with a maternal branch of the family in which Douglas was a common name.
Sunday, October 28, 2012 at 11:19 pm
Just another series of updates. Firstly, my Teavivre sample-order came in.
I game. This should not be surprising, as I follow most of the trends associated with “geeks”, especially the old fashion type. Recently, my DM (of many years) has started into Shadowrun. This is my first brush with it, and to fill out our group he turned to the internet to gather some players. After many misses, he managed one new player (bringing our party total up to three), since most of our old regulars have since moved away.
During our last gaming session, I learned that our new member is big into tea. We managed to derail the whole game for half an hour discussing it–pausing every so often in an attempt to return to the game, but ultimately failing each time.
Invaded Chinatown yesterday to pick up teas. I went in for unflavoured tuocha and “honey” phoenix dan cong, came out with a bit more.
And also books. But I got those at Chapters downtown, after I’d left Chinatown. Photos under the cut.
