The Tea Letter #6 (Interpretations, Mortality, Taste)
Language is a funny thing.
We rely on it entirely for our survival in human society and yet it's an imperfect tool for conveying how we feel. If words were as definitive as we like to believe, we wouldn't need lawyers--people who argue endlessly over the intent and meanings hidden behind words. Words are so important to us, it blows our minds to learn some people have no inner monologue. How can you think without words?
I'm a writer, so I think about words a lot. And so it happened that I was thinking about interpretations of words a while back and came across a startling realization.
There I was--wandering around Austin's east side on my way to some show at SXSW. I was casually thinking about life and an old Chinese phrase: "The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step." Commonly attributed to Confucius, this saying actually comes from Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing)".
I was thinking about the original Chinese, which looks like this: 千里之行始于足下. If I break it into its parts, it looks like this:
千里之行 - journey of a thousand miles
始于足下 - begins with the first step
Seems good, right? Well, I found I disagreed with the interpretation of that second phrase, specifically with 足下. These two characters do not mean "first step". Interpreted literally, they mean "beneath the feet".
This new interpretation takes on an entirely different meaning: "The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath the feet."
I took to Twitter to talk about it in a thread. It became my first "viral" post on Twitter.
Sidenote: I'll be honest with you, dear reader. I used the phrase "translation error" (vs. interpretation) on purpose to see how the internet would react. Only one person, a Chinese native, called me out and I added our conversation to the bottom of the thread for extra context. It's only clickbait if you don't deliver on the promise!
Tea of the Week - Obukucha, Ippodo
At the end of the year last year, Ippodo offered a set of New Year's teas--a sencha and a genmaicha--called ōbukucha (大福茶). It's a traditional good luck tea shared with family to celebrate the new year in Japan for over 1,000 years! For this year's tea, Ippodo took their classic genmaicha and upgraded the green tea leaves in it for a sweeter profile. It's been a huge hit with me. I avoided drinking this tea because normally find genmaicha fairly uninteresting. However, this tea has been extraordinarily enjoyable.
Quick Service Announcement
My friend Nick Gray launched a book! It's called The 2-Hour Cocktail Party: How to Build Big Relationships with Small Gatherings. It's chocked full of learnings from over 5 years of hosting parties to meet new friends and gather old friends. Since coming to Austin, I've been to a few of these gatherings either hosted by Nick or by others using his method and they are undeniably fun. I think I'm going to try hosting a party of my own in some sort of tea-related manner in July, so if you're in Austin and want to be notified about that--let me know!
Recent Readings
4000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals - Oliver Burkeman
This book inspired my last essay Modern Culture is Lying To Us. I came to it via recommendation from a couple friends and it was a slam dunk. I've tried numerous methods to gain control and "mastery" over my time and nothing ever seemed to stick. No matter how organized or efficient I became, there was simply no end to the Sisyphean task that is work. I do not believe humans are put here on Earth simply to labor and toil, so I wanted a path to a more humane system of productivity and time management. That's what this book provided for me--a perspective on life and time that has helped me reorganize my priorities and focus on that truly matters to me instead.
Is There Such A Thing As Good Taste? - Paul Graham
I loved this essay by Paul. As tea enthusiasts, we try to be welcoming and inclusive so that we can bring newcomers gently into the world of specialty tea. We often say: "The best tea is the one you enjoy." I generally agree with that. However, I think we must be careful not to confuse "tea we enjoy" with "tea that is good".
The truth is, most tea is not good. I wrote a micro-essay on the subject on Twitter a while back. The ability to tell the difference is a matter of both knowledge and taste. Knowledge you can acquire through research--taste can only be acquired through experience. I think it's important that we discuss this because, in order to make a market for specialty tea in the USA, we need educated consumers.
Educated consumers have good taste. They know how to tell the difference between what's good and what's not. They also have the ability to enjoy all kinds of tea accordingly. That's why you'll see me lined up at a Starbucks for some Clouds & Mist green tea if I'm thirsty for a sip and don't have anything else at hand.
If you have thoughts on this subject, I'd love to hear them. Hit reply on this email and let me know what you think.
That's all for this edition of The Tea Letter. Until next time, happy drinking!
Mike