Author: Space CowboySpace Cowboy Date: Sep 10, 2008 09:09
I missed the first 15 minutes of David Lee Hoffman in All In This Tea
on the movie channels last night. I know he was the subject of the
documentary so we see it from the directors POV. My impression of
Hoffman was an arrogant sob trying to get the Chinese to do business
his way, eliminate the middle man, in this case the factory and local
government taxes. There was a disingenuous moment in the documentary
where he makes a snide comment he finally made a perfect cup of tea
after 20 years. I'm not sure I could enjoy a cup of tea with the guy
especially after trying to bamboozle me with some silly gongfu
performance which permeates the whole documentary. I feel better
now. No I dont. All the extras in this documentary comes across as
snobs except the Chinese who are just plain dumb shits when it comes
to tea like using pesticides when they could use worm poop. I assume
that was James Norwood Pratt dressed and acting like an evangelical
preacher. To me the movie was a visual feast of tea processing from
bush to export sack. Now I understand what drying, bruising and
rolling really mean. I did learn tea was more unhygienic than I ever
thought. Im not convinced by Hoffmans assertion that oolong is the
pinnacle of Chinese tea processing while at least a quarter of his act
shows him tracking down Puer and storing it in his cave in California ...
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