I'm not a snob...really!

At least not on purpose. Since moving to California, I've had the opportunity to try so many new things, and explore so many cultural and culinary experiences that it's really had an impact on me. I think a lot of it just has to do with the passage to adulthood, and to some extent money. I mean, I obviously wouldn't have done much wine tasting as a teenager, and I certainly didn't have money to buy a $40 bottle of Scotch straight out of college. I don't mind spending that money now mainly because I realize that you don't drink Scotch like it's cheap rum. A bottle can last for 6 months to a couple of years.

But I also think some of it is location and the local culture. There is plenty of Asian culture to go around in the Bay Area, even far away from Chinatown. And there are wine shops in every neighborhood. Whether through means, desire, or most likely opportunity, there are just more things to explore here.

And we've lapped it up like a kitten to warm milk. So much so that we can hardly keep up with which indulgence we should be devoting our attention and resources. Wine, cheese, coffee, chocolate, olives, Scotch, Cognac, and our latest: Tea. It's a bit like sports or hobbies. They're all so fun, but in the end, there's only so much time and money. You have to choose.

But those of you who know me well, know that I hate to choose. I want to do it all. Be the renaissance man. Of course, my mind tells me that's not possible. You can't be a virtuoso piano player and also an accomplished furniture craftsman. People devote their entire lives to mastering just one type of piano playing or one type of woodworking.

But I can learn enough about each of these things to enjoy them, and even more so with food and wine. When we first got into wine, I just wanted to know if it tasted good on my tongue and washed down easily. Now when I talk about wine, I'm starting to sound like a wine critic, jabbering on about things that I used to think were meaningless. (There's actually a great article about this wine learning curve and why critics write about wines being fruity, grassy, or other less savory terms here.) I’m more than a little self-conscious about sounding like a snob. And for good reason. People have accused me of being a snob, particularly back home in Missouri.

The thing is, I’m not trying to be a snob at all. I’m just really excited about discovering new things, and sharing them with my friends, the same as I would if I were living anywhere else. In fact, I’m the antithesis of a snob. Real wine snobs look at me and scoff. I’ve learned a few terms here and there, but I don’t really know anything about wine, and more than that I don’t have the right attitude about it. We went wine tasting recently with Kat’s dad and a real wine snob came into the tasting bar and quite honestly made me feel uncomfortable. I suppose that’s what I’m afraid of doing to other people.

But in reality, I’m just trying to portray my enthusiasm for something that I’ve discovered. And the most fun part of these things is that it’s not all on the surface. It’s deeper than whether something simply tastes good or not. There’s really a learning process, both in training the palate and understanding processes, preparation, traditions and pairings of a food or drink.

Take our latest foray: tea. I’ve always thought tea was a pretty basic thing. Iced or hot. Maybe you could have it sweetened. Of course, I always hated tea. As a child growing up at church functions, there were only two choices, coffe and tea. Well, and asking an adult to get you some water. You’d think with this I’d learn to like tea, but it made me resent it. I never really could get past that until I was about 30 years old.

At that point I had an iced tea called Blackberry Sage by the Republic of Tea company. Very good. Slightly sweet without any sugar added. It made me rethink my “I don’t like tea” stance. On top of that, I started noticing that some of the teas we had when we went to chinese restaurants were pretty good.

Well, to digress a little bit (too late), last weekend we were walking around our neighborhood, something we should really do more as it's a charming neighborhood. We bought tickets to see Downfall, a movie about Hitler’s final days, which was showing at a local theatre that we have always wanted to check out. As we were waiting for the show, we went into a fancy tea place that we pass all the time, but knew was expensive. It’s an asian tea tasting bar with over 70 kinds of tea, each tasting a small cup for $3 to $6.

But the traditions from the hospitality to the preparation amazed me. Each tea has distinct characteristics when prepared in just certain ways. The water has to be at exact temparatures to bring out the sweet, bold or bitter characteristics, and different steepings (a steeping is each time you make a cup from the same leaves, which can yield 3 to 6+ steepings) will sometimes have different characteristics from the previous steeping, even with the same leaves, moving from toasty to fruity, etc. The leaves themselves have intricate flavors and aromas that you have to search for, and some of them have been processed dozens of times to get their flavor, or even aged for 35 years like fine liquor.

Naturally, I took to it instantly. And the price didn’t bother me. It's the experience of discovery and sharing that I enjoy most. I can’t afford to buy every kind of Scotch that we love, but I can enjoy trying them for a fraction of the cost. And these teas aren’t cheap. $15-$75 for 2 ounces.

Obviously, you can tell I’m excited about this. So the next time I sound a bit like a snob, don’t think that I’m trying to insult the things you love, or sound better than anyone. I’m really just saying, “look at this amazing thing I’ve found. I’ve learned so much about it and I can’t wait to share it with you.”