Clink, clonk, clank. My son was playing with my tea caddies a few days ago when I thought I could perhaps expand his olfactive horizons by making him smell some tea. At the grand old age of 18 months he is still too young to drink the stuff, but sniffing it gave him great pleasure. I gave him a teabag of English Breakfast and rubbed it under his nose. He smelled and emitted a loud, satisfied Ahhh.
Encouraged, I decided to move on to more serious stuff. Ditching the tea bags, I got out a caddy full of Pai Mu Tan leaves. Before I could even think of scooping out some for him to smell, he plunged his hand into the leaves, grabbed a fistful of them and shoved them into his mouth. Prising his jaw open and taking out half munched leaves one by one was an arduous task and I am sure he ended up eating a good three or four of them. So much for keeping his caffeine intake down…
Get the lowdown on Pai Mu Tan.