I need to cut back. We’ve overspent this month.
When I look back, I don’t know whether it’s the newly-printed poster board on my wall which I’ll point to as “peak-splurge”.
Maybe it will be the sailing sun-hat from the French sports shop in Shanghai. The family have teased me about the price tag on that one. I bought the poster despite the teasing. Profligacy.
Maybe it will be the tea I’m drinking these days; comfortably the most expensive I’ve bought with real money in ages. It was ¥170 for a bag, which I’m getting through fast.
Admittedly, a few balls of this tea do go a long way: the expansion ratio easily rivals those dried wood-ear [木耳] blocks or instant-noodle-tofu-chunks, filling a drinking mug within a few hours. Yes. A few hours! These leaves keep pumping out oolong-juice for a day (at least). Is this starting to sound less like frivolous expenditure? I hope so.
A CNN article this week suggested that “YOLO is dying”, meaning that American consumers have stopped making purchases using the “You Only Live Once” excuse.
Apparently, COVID both, 1, reminded us survivors of our mortality; and 2, temporarily restricted our mobility and therefore our opportunities for consumption. The coiled spring of consumer spending has been springing for almost 2 years, they say. Until now.
According to CNN, awareness of the need to save is entering consciousness again. In China, of course, just like in the UK, the past 18 months haven’t been such a spree. And it’s definitely time for me to thud down on my backside.
This is the last Alishan Oolong [阿里山乌龙茶] I’ll be buying for a while. And that’s even more of an incentive to savour every cup. Strainer readers may recall that my most-recent Alishan was blighted with peach chunks. And the one before that had faded – after I neglected it too, too long.
My first taste of Alishan was actually at a swanky tea-bar in Spitalfields, London, run by a Scot called John Kennedy. Boy, was it love at first sip. The liquor tasted of sweetcorn and pineapple and celery and caramel – all at different moments.
And this one I’m drinking is just the same. Simply wonderful. Riding my bicycle home I’d just had the impulse to try out the Taiwan Import Store inside my compound. Usually these places don’t sell tea. This is the exception; the owner was very eager to talk tea. How could I say no?
The costs of transportation and regulation contribute to the high price, of course. Exchange rates, too. But it’s also the relative scarcity of those “tall mountain” [高山茶] conditions that make this an expensive tea.
Admittedly, with Oolong, there isn’t such fussiness about bud size and season; these are large leaves, bridged with thick camellia sinensis cables. That size and picking indiscriminacy should aid productivity. But there is intricate artisanship involved in the oxidation process, resulting in a truly unique flavour.
I am grateful that such different strains of oolong are being cultivated on each side of the water. What adventures are to be had.
It’s also very gratifying to know that for every budget there is a tea. I’ll be skimping somewhat after all this Alipay incontinence. But, living in China, I’ll always have more to enjoy than just memories of great experiences.
