To Re-learn That Which is All too Familiar...

Classes were cancelled today due to a small tragedy at our university which occurred last night. A fire started in a part of the school of business (where most of my day is spent), and smoke filled the entire building. Workers will spend all of today and possibly this next week venting the building and cleaning soot.

I decided to take the day and spend it with a dearly missed friend of mine; GongFuCha.

Can you guess what cake this is? I have seen it on a few blogs so far...

I realized something about GongFu today though.

I realized that I have lost the knack to properly prepare one (probably more) of my favorite sheng'pu teas.

GongFu is, for me, a method of preparation and a way to focus completely on the tea set before me. With all my past reviews, I have prepared the tea (for the most part) in a way most would describe as GongFu.

As noted in my previous post, I have been rather busy and the only teas I have been drinking are simple pleasures that I can throw into my two tea tumblers and take to go. This has put a dent in the way which I normally prepare my teas.

Getting to know a tea by GongFu teaches you much about what the tea is and how best to release its full potential. In brewing the aforementioned sheng'pu, I just couldn't get it to taste the way I remember it. I will surely be making a stronger effort to integrate GongFu into my daily happenings.

~billy

Life, The Universe, and Everything (Tea related)...

...42

For those of you that read my blog on a regular basis, you may have noticed that I slid under the radar for a while on every type of tea networking site; Blogger, Teatrade, Twitter etc...

I apologize greatly for my absence. I have missed the community.

There are a few reasons why I stopped posting frequently.

1) School is back in session. I have a very full set of classes and a high GPA requirement to meet. This has bogged me down quite a bit.

2) For those of you who do not know, I now own and operate BourgeaTEA. This has been a major focus in my life right now. I bag teas, package and ship teas, sell wholesale, and have meetings and events to attend at the business incubator where the office is located. Among the many plans I have for the company, I plan on starting to bottle one of the most successful products of ours. This is a bit of a conflict of interest for me, as I love the traditional teas and traditional methods of brewing, but I see a large opportunity for the market which I plan to sell to. I have been working diligently on finding investors, writing proposals and business plans, gaining connections to different retailers, and creating relationships with co-packers for the actual phase of bottling the beverage. I plan on going far with the company and making it a prominent part of the specialty tea community throughout North America and perhaps even abroad.

3) I am joined in another venture relating to a different beverage: coffee. I have a wonderful opportunity to help get another business off the ground and potentially run far with it. There are less details available, since this week will be the start-up for this project, but I can keep everyone updated as time goes on.

4) There is one more project which I will be working on with a group of students here on campus (business related). I have put some time and effort into this one, but it is less aligned with my interests, although it does have the potential to grow into what I would like to do, which is investment into student businesses (either equity ownership or interest investment). I want to help foster the spirit of entrepreneurship among students and help people realize their passions, and then give them the ability to run with their ideas.

That's what is happening in the life of Sir William. Once time allows, I will return to regular posting, but for now, my life is moving forward in big ways.

~billy