A Tea Addict's Journal

A year long hiatus

August 31, 2022 · 10 Comments

Last time I wrote a post here was July 2021. That’s more than a year ago and the longest break I’ve taken from this blog. Since the pandemic started, I’ve been mostly busy dealing with various projects of mine, the most important of which is what you see above – the publication of my first book. I just got my own copies a couple days ago, which is pretty exciting. It’s also a long, long way away from when I first started this blog when I was merely a second year grad student. That year, I first started conceiving of this project that ended in this book, so in a way, it’s a nice milestone.

My next project is going to be much more about tea – I’ve been doing some research on various aspects of tea for the past few years now, as many of you have seen. The project is now slated to be mostly about tea production in Taiwan over the course of the 20th century, and its implications on what we can learn about skills, artisan production, and global trade. I originally wanted to do something more comparative, but Covid-19 travel restrictions means that it’s much harder to get that done in any reasonable timeframe. I do hope that in the next few years I’ll be able to go more to Taiwan to finish up some research and to get a book out, this time in less than than it took my first one.

Otherwise though, on the tea front, not that much is going on. I’ve been drinking lots of deathroast tieguanyin these days – just grandpa style in a mug. It’s easy and tasty. Without much travel and with all the Covid silliness, there’s been much less tea activity than normal and so not a lot to write about. I suppose a recent highlight is a session with a very well stored 1950s Red Label. That was nice.

Now that the book is out, it’s time to get cracking on the next book. Hopefully I’ll have some meaningful updates on here once I have made some more progress.

Categories: Teas
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10 responses so far ↓

  • John Roupe // August 31, 2022 at 6:04 pm | Reply

    Marshal.
    Congrats on the publishing. I look forward to getting a copy as well as the next one upcoming.

    Happy sipping
    Mrm.

  • Matias // September 6, 2022 at 1:05 am | Reply

    Congrats! Nice to see your blog still being so alive (even with the hiatus) since many of the good old tea blogs have gone quiet.

    Btw do you also grandpa brew some more aged teas? I’ve been doing that at the office for a while now (mostly semi-aged sheng). First I felt bad not to give the tea a proper gongfu treatment, but now I kind of like it.

    • MarshalN // September 6, 2022 at 2:17 am | Reply

      I actually drink most of my aged oolongs grandpa style these days. They often come out better that way than gongfu, especially if they’re a bit on the weak side.

  • Matthew // September 11, 2022 at 7:33 pm | Reply

    next book sounds like it’ll be a banger.

  • PuPuPlatter // October 25, 2022 at 11:57 am | Reply

    Ordered, looking forward to the read.

  • Aardvark Cheeselog // January 24, 2023 at 4:02 pm | Reply

    I came here to post a question about an old post, which says

    … a new project that I’m working on that will, one day, end up as a book on the history of tea practices in East Asia.

    I would very much like to read that book, and also to have it available to point people at when I try to explain to them that making tea shots with a small gaiwan is not “the authentic Chinese way of making tea.”

    So I would like to know how that is going. Or if it is going.

  • HCD // March 19, 2023 at 12:41 am | Reply

    I missed your post last summer. I’m fascinated by the book and read the reviews at the Harvard University Press site with great interest. “This book will be required reading for all historians of China.”—Matthew Sommer
    I’ve ordered a copy.

  • Hammockman // March 19, 2023 at 7:13 am | Reply

    In present day China are positions of power gained through meritocracy or who you know?

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