Gratitude & Kukicha Supreme

(gratitude et kukicha supreme)...

Je rêve de Paris et de thé français.

I dream of Paris and French tea.

Sometimes it all feels very far away. Sometimes I can taste it as if in my very cup.

Does this revelation belong in a post about a Japanese green tea, Kukicha Supreme?

It might.

For Kukicha Supreme came to me via a winding road.

Never mind that it had to make its way here from Japan. That someone had to create this particular way of crafting a tea. That a tea garden had to grow it, and sell it.

There were also years of me not knowing a thing about loose tea (and not caring).

There was my absolute dislike of green tea, at least the way I’d experienced it.

There was the time it took for Callie R. Feyen to receive one of my books from her dad, for her to read it, for the book to inspire her to get an M.F.A. in writing, and for her to eventually find me by email and tell me she had done so and why (et pourquoi). Eventually, through something she wrote, Callie introduced me to Todd & Holland, tea purveyors who were friends with her family. And there I found Kukicha Supreme.

It tastes, underneath, inexplicably like les pêches (peaches!).

Subtly.

So subtly.

I dream of Paris and French tea.

Je rêve de Paris et de thé français.

But for today, far from Paris and my dream, I’m filled with gratitude (la gratitude)—(oh another of those mirror words!).

I have my Aynsley cup (bone china, England).

I have my ForLife teapot (game changer for making loose tea; it has its own tea basket).

I have books from the library about France, Renoir, Matisse.

And, as it goes, I do have a handful of French teas that are leading me to explore the history of French tea houses.

Intriguing!

I’ve learned that I can study French in families, which sprang from my decision not to choose transmettre (to transmit). I happened to notice that transmettre contained mettre (to put). And the family presented itself…

mettre (put)
transmettre (transmit)
promettre (promise)
admettre (admit)
émettre (emit)
remettre (put back, hand over)

Etcetera.

So that what feels far is sometimes nearer than we think, if we think in new ways.

I don’t know if I’ll ever go to Paris and visit the iconic tea houses. That would be such a dream.

But the life I have already, when I look at it through the window of gratitude?

My cup is full, and beautiful.

(traduction: as always, L.L. :)

below ↓ aynsley was ready for her closeup