DIMINISHED THOUGHT

So yesterday evening we went out to eat and after finishing dinner we decided to wander around the streets for a bit just to see what we could find. On a lark Jen and Erica decided to go into a little tea shop and I followed them in. I'm glad I did. I turned out to be one of the better experiences of the night. A man set in this small shop surrounded by elaborately decorated canisters of tea behind a small table which held a sturdy but austere wooden grate, a glass goblet, a small glass pitcher, several porcelin cups, a few tea strainers. The only English that he spoke was the names of the different types of the teas but he managed to convince us to sit and began to make us tea. He would heat the water on a small burner and then put a bit of the tea leaves into the goblet when the water was hot he would fill the goblet with water and allow the tea leaves to steep. He would pour the excess hot water over a small ceramic frog with a coin in his mouth that sat on the edge of the grate. At first we were confused as to why he would do this and guessed that perhaps it was about luck but we later decided that it had more to do with making sure the water was cool prior to hitting the wood. Anyway he would filter the tea into the pitcher and then serve it to you in the small porcelain cups. He kept repeating this process with different sorts of tea until we told him to stop. Over all in this tiny shop just off a busy Beijing street I found myself relaxed.