Attention Inventory: Brine Theory, Saffron, Voids

Nothing succeeds without taking stock

Nothing succeeds without taking stock — take inventory of your attention.

Below, a list of recent preoccupations (…with the intention of prompting your own specific rendition.)

1. Lukewarm pleasures

Recently I had dinner at a cryptically/gratuitously secretive tea house in Los Angeles. There, part of the experience included a thorough primer on Japanese tea etymology (of which I absorbed about 5%) but did leave with a renewed appreciation for kukicha — also known as bōcha, or twig tea, and made from the tea plant’s literal stems/shoots. 

Traditionally, kukicha is brewed in a large pot, then left out to sip throughout the day like a pitcher of water. Nutty, earthy, and smooth, it really comes into its own while lukewarm. An underrated temp. This also suggests a 50/50 of kukicha cut with a bit of apple juice, which sounds good in an Arnold Palmer-y mindset (or I could be sold on this + a drizzle of honey.) 

Re: kukicha, I like this one, or this one. 

2. Acquiring the Void

“I’m often asked what I t…