Three Leaves

After an intense period of buying teaware -- from 2013 to about 2019 -- I began to favor simpler brewing methods.

At present, I use what may be the simplest. Each morning before work, I put three tea leaves in my thermos and fill it with hot water.

This produces a very pleasant, mild tea -- it is never strong, but also never bitter. 

It is also affordable. After months, I've hardly made a dent in my tiny bag of oolong, imported from a family farm in the Wuyi mountains.

Each morning I wash out the previous day's leaves and refill.

And each day I look forward to the moment, which I often deliberately delay, of popping open my thermos lid and savoring those soft echoes of distant mountains.

I think more complex brewing methods involving ceramic vessels are more suitable, perhaps only suitable, for use with guests. The three leaf method produces excellent results to be enjoyed in solitary moments.

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