An Infusion of Life

I've been drinking tea like a maniac lately in an attempt to do battle with the Spring cold that has been plaguing me and everyone I know lately. Today I've been doing Mind & Body, an herbal blend of lemongrass, rooibos, ginger, ginseng and more, purported to have healing properties. I'm on my third cup of the day, and the exploding-head syndrome seems to be abating.

Yesterday I focused on green teas, starting with Moroccan Mint, a perennial favorite of mine. Two cups of that and I found some of my congestion clearing up. Then I switched to Bi Luo Chun, a classic Chinese green tea with hints of hay. By the time I got to Thai Nguyen, a light green grown in Vietnam, I was sweating but definitely feeling some improvements. Perhaps it was all in my head, but I could've sworn my immune ninjas were fighting with a renewed vigor.

In the Book of Tea, Okakura Kakuzo cites Lutong, a Tan poet, on the power of a tea regimen:

"The first cup moistens my lips and throat, the second cup breaks my loneliness, the third cup searches my barren entrails but to find therein some five thousand volumes of odd ideographs. The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration—all the wrong of life passes away through my pores. At the fifth cup I am purified; the sixth cup calls me to the realms of immortals. The seventh cup—ah, but I could take no more! I only feel the breath of cool wind that rises in my sleeves."

And so, perhaps I'll go back to the green teas. A little Dragon Well (another Chinese variety, with more of a grassy flavor) might do the trick -- by the seventh cup I shall feel nothing but the afternoon breeze on my arms. If not, I suppose a trip to the doctor is in order...