Finding The Crescendo In Your Teacup...

There is a time, a period, a window of Sensation Perfection we can find in our teacups...

And when we do, we are rewarded with an awe-inspiring and bountiful elixir that takes us to a place of grateful satisfaction...

For tea I borrow the noun crescendo: the loudest point reached in a gradually increasing sound...But the tea in our cups after we pour is a silent treasure, so I apply the expanded definition of Crescendo: the highest point reached in a progressive increase of intensity...and here, I find it's meaning to the precious moments our broth has reached perfection...A Crescendo In Our Teacups...

We already have everything we need to find it...

Years ago even though I was happily enthralled with the tea I was drinking, I started wondering if I was steeping it as well as it could be steeped...Over time it eventually led me to a realization so simple and so sensible that lets anyone prepare the best cups of tea...they ever made...start by thinking a little differently about tea.

Just by having two glasses, a strainer basket of some type and quality tealeaves, you can be ready to find the crescendo...of course we will need the right temperature hot water as well.

Having a glass infuser with an infuser basket or a good sized tea ball is all the better and would make the steeping all the easier...See recommend steeping gadgets here...

All we have to do is let it emerge from the leaves into the broth to It's Optimal Threshold...

To make a steeping point, there are two types of ingredients in tea: water soluble, and non-water soluble. 

To find Steeping Perfection, we extract just the right concentration of water soluble ingredients into the broth, and leave the non-water soluble ingredients in the broth as little time as possible...See elaborated points on Steeping Perfection here... 

To find the Crescendo In our Teacups however there is something more about the tea that has to be...just right...the Thermal Sensitivity...I name it The Thermal Pleasure Zone, just to make my tea friends realize how far-gone on tea I am...

We use something called Thermoception to detect temperatures, which in this case is our tea broth, and we want it to be just so when seeking The Crescendo In Our Teacup.

Our taste sensitivity is not responsive over 160F, and we begin to lose aroma evaporation and taste sensitivity when we drop below 130F, so The Thermal Pleasure Zone I define at 130-160F.

We've found the Crescendo In Our Teacup...

One last step...We've Steeped to Perfection creating the optimal broth concentration, the tea has cooled just enough to come into the Thermal Pleasure Zone, and now it is up to us...to pay attention, to pause, to observe, to relish the experience...

Sip...flutter your tongue through the broth, close eyes, swallow and with lips closed slowly exhale through the nose...continue to slowly breathe through your nose...

Keep eyes closed and direct your awareness to alternate between the sensation felt as the tea travels down your throat and begins to assimilate into your system and the aromas you are sensing as you continue to Smell The Tea From the Inside...

Finally, allow the tastes you are concurrently experiencing to come into your awareness and blend it all together in an elevated state of sensation...

The bioactive compounds in the tea have begun to influence your state of mind and the acute awareness you have just created can lead you to The Crescendo In Your Teacup... 

Like a conductor of an orchestra, you have elevated the condition of your tea experience to a magnificent Crescendo in your Teacup.

Revisit the crescendo until the leaves have given you all they have to give...

Once you have found the Crescendo In Your Teacup, there is no turning back...

With each Three Finger Pinch of magnificent tea, you create an opportunity to again find the crescendo. 

During that multiple-steep session with the leaves, you, empowered with your understanding of how to work with the leaves to create excellence...your infusion management, you can again find the crescendo.

Even though the leaves will change over multiple infusions, during that multiple-steep session, you can find a crescendo with each infusion. As you increase your awareness of what is happening as you steep, your insight will allow intuitive adjustments in your process allowing you to yield your optimal cup from each infusion... 

Philip Parda, Student of Tea