The Mad Monk, and tea for all seasons

Yesterday I went to go see an old friend who is pouring tea at Mad Monk Tea in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego.  I had heard about the shop a couple of years ago, when it was under a different name and different ownership, but never made it down to OB to check it out because you had to make an appointment, and they charged something like $35 per hour for private gongfucha/Chinese tea ceremony.  Now, it is a much more casual environment where anyone can walk in, sit down, and taste tea.  The tea room is a cool, offbeat hole-in-the-wall kind of place.  The crowd there is eclectic and  the tea selection is very good.  We (I brought my sister along) drank a 7-year Imperial (loose-leaf) pu-erh and an  Osmanthus Silver Needle "flowering" tea.  We both got pretty buzzed on the pu-erh; I could feel the cha qi opening up my meridians.  The Osmanthus Silver Needle had a nice honey/apricot flavor and was very soothing after the pu-erh.  I thought it would be a good tea to have around for the summer, so I bought two ounces.

Since I first starting learning Taoist health principles, I've really taken to the idea of varying my diet in accordance with the seasons.  We all do this naturally, to some extent.  In the summer, for example, are you more likely to crave beef stew, or a salad?  Since I've gotten into tea, I vary my tea-drinking with the seasons as well.  Pu-erh, lapsang souchong, and other black or red teas are my favorite in the winter.  This spring, I am drinking mostly Dongding oolong at home, and I have Shizuoka sencha and the Osmanthus Silver Needle for when the San Diego weather gets even warmer in the next few months.  I expect the Osmanthus Silver Needle would also be very good iced, although I usually only drink iced tea when it's really hot outside.  When fall comes--my favorite season of the year--I will probably gravitate back toward some darker teas.  There's nothing like a good cup of pu-erh on a misty autumn morning.