A Couple More Tea Photos To Share From Instagram

Here are a couple of more photos I want to share from 9 Thousand Things on Instagram. I have a lot of fun looking at Alexander's photos. His photos help me to stop for a second and daydream - which I love doing - about two of my favorite things: traveling and tea!

Here are a couple of examples:

The following photo is for our Spring HeHuanShan.

Title: Lost World

Among all the photos Alexander took of Floating Leaves Tea, this is probably the one I go back and look at the most. I think it's because of the location. It makes me feel like it's a setting from a book. Where is this mysterious place? I started to imagine a person with the tea and his stories. Sometimes I put myself into the story. When customers come into the shop, I "close the book" and attend to them.  After they leave, I get to "read" the book of my imagination and I love it! When you look at this photo, can you imagine it being a part of a story?

The next photo is simply delightful and a bit mischievous. It's for our 2016 Spring Alishan, and the photo "describes" the nature of this Alishan well.

Title: Beneath the Bounce the Springs

Enjoy!

*photography provided by Alexander of 9 Thousand Things on Instagram.

Instagram: Connecting With Tea Drinkers and Great Photos!

I am pretty new to Instagram (created my account in February), and it took me a while to get used to using it.

But now, I grow more and more fond of it. I love looking at the gorgeous photos! My favorites are tea photos (of course) and travel/landscape photos.

About a month or so ago, my phone's indicator light blinked to alert me that someone had tagged me on Instagram. I clicked on the photo and this is what I saw:

I thought, "Well, that's an interesting photo and the tea in the photo is our 2016 Spring Lishan. I wonder who this is? Oh, wait a second, 'Blown Over'...is that the title for this photo? How interesting...."

Then a couple of customers came in and we had a great time drinking tea. After I had a quiet moment, I went back to look at the photo. I spent some time pondering that photo, "Was there some sort of storm? Was the photo trying to reflect the photographer's mood?" Suddenly I burst out laughing, "I know and I wish! This person was blown away with this Lishan!".

The following day, my phone signaled that someone had tagged me again, so I looked at the new photo entry. It was from the same person!

I thought, "That's a very nice photo! Oh, it's Lishan again. The title this time is 'Between The Storms'. Oh my goodness, this person is killing me! Why does Lishan suddenly become so stormy? Oh wait a second, maybe this Lishan calms him down because it's currently between the storms (weather)...."

I realized I was talking to myself a lot as I delightfully looked at these beautiful pictures with their poetic titles. Instagram is so much fun!

Meanwhile, you can enjoy Alexander's great photos on Instagram: 9 Thousand Things.

*photography by 9 Thousand Things.

2016 Spring Taiwan Tea Trip: A Slide Show

Here is a slide show from my 2016 spring tea trip, full of beautiful scenes and tea people. Enjoy!

*slide show presented by Jake Knapp. 

2016 Taiwan Tea Trip: Dong Ding

For those of you who have read my three posts about our Dong Ding farmer, you have probably got a pretty good idea that he is not an easy person to deal with. Well, good news, this spring trip at Dong Ding went smoothly! We saw some tea being processed, visited a sweet farmer couple, enjoyed astounding views in the mountains, and even got to do some sightseeing! Here are some photos to share:

collecting freshly picked tea

rolling tea

a beautiful tea field with mist

great view!

bamboo forest

beautiful waterfall

These photos might not capture the depth of the beautiful places and things that I actually saw. A photographer, Jake Knapp, went on this trip with me. I will be sharing his photos soon. Another travel companion on the trip, David Galli, recorded lots of our conversations with the farmers and tea people we met. I will be posting some interesting facts we learned on this trip after I receive the recordings.