Not My Cup of Tea

TEA GROWING AREAS IN JAPAN

Well I finally decided I could no longer handle the dishwater tasting green teas that I have been consuming after finishing off my store of pre-tsunami Japanese organic Sencha tea many months ago.

I  have been nervous about the radiation risk to the tea crop in Japan, That's not a crazy concern.

My wonderful grower and supplier is from Kyoto which is more than 300 miles from the power plant.  He has certificates that say his tea is free of radiation and I completely trust him.

Whom I don't trust is the Japanese government and their food monitoring.

We know that the crop in the famous tea growing prefecture of Shizuoka which is about one hundred milds closer to the damaged reactors was contaminated.  The westward winds after the radiation escape probably mitigated the Japanese exposure, but the safety data is conflicting. By the way Tokyo is about half way closer to Fukushima than is Kyoto.

I ordered some Japanese tea from a supplier in New York that swore that he still had some pre-disaster tea in his USA warehouse, airtight and sealed. I eagerly waited for it to arrive and brighten my morning breakfast. Very disappointing. It was mediocre at best, better than the junk at the grocery store, but no sparkle, no sweetness, no life.

I  have never been a big fan of Chinese teas - I have been to China and I don't trust what is claimed to be organic. I worry it is too often just a label that lets the vendor jack up the prices, and bedsides the tea seem more astringent. Remember the Chinese and the baby formula and the  dog food. Indian teas are better, but "green" is not their strength.

I have some green tea from Malawi that I'll try next.

So I still missing my gentle but very lively Japanese Sencha.

I admit it. I am a tea snob.

Today I ordered over 500 grams of four different Japanese organic Senchas, all from the southern island of Kyushu (Kumamoto, Kagoshima, and Miyazaki), about as far from the damaged nuclear reactor you can get and still speak Japanese as your official language.

I am hopeful and my mouth is watering in anticipation. The reviews could have been used to describe a a classy pinot noir.

One of the great luxuries of being in remission is that I feel OK to complain about what is and isn't my cup of tea.

Yesterday I said the prayer for the dead (Kaddish) for Dr. Larry Deutsch again and remembered that others were not so lucky. I also prayed that ibrutinib and its ilk and the next generation of therapies to follow them will soon and in our time make tragedies like Larry's and so many others, painful memories of a past left behind. His partner will be sending me his autopsy and I will share here what the dead can teach the living.

I am doing well, finishing my steroids tomorrow with my right ear still doing fine and only an increased fatigue burden.

Paddle boarding at Sunset Beach tomorrow morning with my family, and off to OSU in Columbus on Tuesday to see friends and get my last infusion and more ibrutinib.

Tea or not, it is good to be alive.