Staying Tea Drunk Overnight

I've had the experience of waking up tea drunk a handful of times now, and it's an incredible feeling!

I work a second job to support myself while I help out at Floating Leaves. It's a barista gig, and that means I have to get up much earlier than the 'crack of dawn' to open the shop and start pulling espresso. And on certain mornings I have to do that after a long tea session at the tea shop. A generous tea friend comes in to share really excellent tea, usually one night a week, and I always jump on the opportunity, even when my day will start at 4 AM the next morning.

This has lead me to many very sluggish espresso mornings. But occasionally I will vibe just so with the tea we are drinking, and it will not keep me awake to long and still have me feeling wonderful, floaty and flexible the next morning. Last time this happened, we drank a really extravagant 30 year Dong Ding from Wisteria Teahouse in Taipei. Man, is that tea spectacular! The mouthfeel has this slow-burn of a development. It lasts so long! And it's very intricate in the mouth. The tea still has a lot to teach me, but every time it is an education. And the way it gets me feeling, it's just so calm and so grounding. Like I said, I can sleep (even though it's only for a few hours) through the night and wake up still feeling the tea in my body and head. Also, the dreams are often fantastical ;)

As you might imagine I've drunk a lot of tea, and I've gone to sleep many times. It seems that, for me, older teas are more likely to give me this feeling. Young teas tend to keep me up. And if I can manage to sleep on them, I won't wake up still feeling tea drunk. The kinds of teas that I'm talking about are hard to find and very expensive. But if you're lucky an excellent tea friend will share with you. Gotta appreciate those tea friends! I hope that someday I'll be that tea friend to somebody. It's just one more reason to always be on the search for the next better tea!

NOAH