In the subniche of tea drinking and appreciation in the west, the 2020 pandemic coincided with a wave of new tea drinkers. People were working from home and suddenly had a lot of time on their hands. With an overnight step up in interest, tea Discords picked up momentum and a mini-generation of new drinkers was born. During this time, it wasn’t uncommon to see some old teaheads join in and participate in Discord directly with people who had started to drink tea seriously in the last month. This wave was not universal for every western tea hobbyist. For me, it coincided with the opposite. My own relationship with tea appreciation was entering a period of stagnation. I’d been drinking tea seriously for about nine years and had been making videos for seven, and was tired by 2020. Despite having plenty of time and increased external interest in the tea scene, I was in the wilderness.

My Wilderness Years

Looking back, my wilderness years had already begun by the time the TeaDB blog went dark in December 2020. In truth, I’d stopped writing earlier that year.  While I certainly had plenty of time I didn’t have the same passion or interest as years prior. A wrist issue induced by tennis didn’t help, knocking me out of my normal writing rhythms.

These years in the wilderness probably started in earnest a little before the pandemic in 2019. My most inspired work had been done years before and I’ve always had other interests, some of which were cropping back up. During this period, I was still actively drinking tea and creating content. Just at a reduced volume, with less intensity and inspiration than in 2014-2017.

When I think about this period now, it makes sense. Like most other interests and hobbies, passion for tea can ebb and flow. Everyone is a little different. Some have an intense initial flame and burn out. For others, it can be more steady and sustained. But even those with more sustained interest, excitement levels naturally change. Appreciation is not even necessarily correlated with the amount of tea you are drinking. You can absolutely drink mindlessly gallons of tea or have a couple concentrated, highly enjoyable sessions per week.

My wilderness period lasted roughly five years, up until 2024. I still drank tea virtually every day and even sampled and bought things, but I thought about tea far less, drinking on average more absentmindedly than days past. As my engagement with tea drifted, my attention naturally shifted elsewhere. Early in the pandemic, I poured time into a renewed love of foreign 1970s/1980s genre cinema, and later into RTS gaming, with Age of Empires IV.

Despite being more experienced I did some of my sloppiest buys during this period. Not everything was a dud and I did spend comparatively less, but many of my buys lacked focus or purpose. Being checked out, I also have a much poorer memory of teas I tried during this period versus sessions when I was way more in the zone several years before. Not being locked in my tea evaluations were undoubtedly worse too.

Thinking back on my own disengagement also makes me wonder about vendors. The ones that don’t do it as a side hustle. It’s one thing for hobbyists, even obsessive ones like myself to have wilderness years, but some vendors rely on tea as a steady source of income. Frankly I am not envious.

Wandering Out of the Wilderness

After the birth of my daughter, we ended up going to Taiwan for the first time in 7 years as a family. I was able to hit some old haunts and I was fortunate to have tea with Alex of the great Taiwan Tea Odyssey. Hanging out in tea shops in Taiwan and seeing more serious tea people made me realize how much I’d been sleepwalking through my hobby. I knew I had entered into more of a casual, routine based phase, but I don’t think I realized the extent. Going to Taiwan gave me a burst of energy.

That trip definitely made me reconsider tea from a new angle but it wasn’t the only catalyst. An even bigger factor was a reinvigorated Denny. If you follow the channel, you have likely noticed a dramatic increase of tea drinking, purchasing and content creation from him. Tea is social and having a partner in crime is invaluable and excitement is contagious. While chatting with others online on Discord can be fun and somewhat rewarding it is not a full substitute for tea and face to face interaction. Even though Denny and I have known each other for close to 30 years and did our original project together about 25 years ago, 2025 was a perfect storm.

All of this contributed to the resurrection of the blog and a desire to flex some brain muscles towards the blog as an outlet for thinking and creativity. My recent wave has coincided with both an increase in tea enjoyment and buying. Spending money on something you love is a lot of fun and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the past year with tea.

As I’ve eased back into the hobby, conversations with tea friends have made me realize I’m not alone in this cycle. I get the sense that many of the 2020-2021 boom have drifted into their own wilderness years, and I understand the feeling well. Stepping back doesn’t mean stepping away forever. Sometimes you need new places, new people, or just a different rhythm to rediscover what once grabbed you.