As I was eating breakfast this morning, I was thinking about people and their actions. I was eating pancakes made from the New Otani pancake mix. It’s more convenient than making my own pancakes from scratch. The New Otani mix comes with two pouches of mix (so you don’t have to open it all at once) and some syrup. There used to be two pouches of syrup, one for each pouch of pancake mix. It seems they have changed to having four half pouches of syrup. Perhaps making it easier for two people sharing one pouch of pancake mix.

Anyway, back to people’s actions. One thing I’ve heard foreigners say in Japan is that Japanese line up and sit on the train very nicely, hands folded in their laps, legs kept close so as not to get in the way of other people. This is true. The interesting thing is that the tone in most foreigners’ voices suggests that they view this action and the Japanese who perform it as being inferior. The lining up and sitting nicely are learned behaviors and in my opinion rather efficient. There is nothing to suggest any type of inferiority. In this case, I think I should refrain from judging people based on their actions. When I say judging people, I mean assigning them a number based on the strength/value of their character/personality. This has nothing to do with their type of personality but the goodness or value of their character.

In contrast to Japanese on the train, I think it is quite appropriate to judge a murderer based on his or her criminal behavior. There’s a whole continuum of situations in between…..at what point does an action go from being an illegitimate to legitimate basis for judgement?

Some people know that I often enjoy drinking wine. I’ve had some good bottles over that past 6 or 7 years of (legal, of course) drinking, both older and younger than I. My brain seems to be bursting with things I’d like to say about wine–how I came to be interested in it, how I recommend everyone learn a little about wine since blind buying can be worse than gambling, I can keep going–but I want to talk about one of the best (THE best in my opinion) bargains in the world of fine drinks: LOOSE LEAF TEA. No, I’m not talking about some fashionable tea with a high price tag like heremes or Boodles (the most expensive tea in the world [1]). I’m talking about single-estate, full leaf teas. The extreme high end: around $150 per pound (of course you can purchase great teas in smaller quantities, even down to 1/2 oz. samplers), which might seem like a lot to pay for tea. But consider that one pound of leaves brews around 200 cups which works out to about 75 cents a cup of tea. Compare that with any other high end drink–or any other drink, period. I’ve been drinking loose leaf tea for years now.

What’s so good about fine tea? Well, supposed health benefits [2] aside, the taste. The complexity of flavor in a cup of well brewed tea is reminiscent of a good wine or well aged whiskey. For example, one of my most favorite teas is an assam that has a beautiful deep red/copper color in the cup. The aroma has floral hints and the taste is malty with–maybe predictably–floral notes and a hint of sweetness. It even has a long, pleasant finish, no overbearing tannins. Now, tell me it doesn’t sound like I just described a good wine. I am describing the no. 264, Mangalam Estate Assam available at specialteas.com. Some other great things about tea: no problem drinking and driving, no legal drinking age, users can brew the flavor to their own liking by adjusting amount of tea leaves and brew time.

If 75 cents a cup is too rich for your tastes, there are great teas 1/2 of that price, a 1/4 of that price, even less than that. It’s a great way to start your day, relax before sleeping, or even take a little break at work–can’t say the same about most other fine drinks. For those interested, there are a few places to get loose leaf tea online. The best I’ve found is the aforementioned specialteas.com. They have all types of teas at many different prices and the service has been fast and accurate in my experience.

[1]: http://most-expensive.net/tea

[2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_tea