Dominant Omicron A Relief For Tea Drinkers

 Honestly,  one of the things I have been most concerned of since the start of the pandemic ( in a trivial sort of way) is getting infected with Covid 19 and loosing my sense of taste and smell.  I have talked to people who make their living from these senses, such as chiefs, and that symptom alone can cause true long term suffering.  

Sometimes the sense of smell and taste can become warped from infection where certain smells and tastes that were once enjoyed are now quite off putting or just not enjoyed in the same capacity.  I have talked to and read about other tea drinkers that claim that their altered sense of smell and taste from Covid infection has changed their tea preferences all together.  I can only imagine how frustrating it would be to amass a large puerh stash to your taste only to be put off completely by that taste after being infected by Covid.  I also wonder, if enough people have a similar altered taste, will some puerh cakes that were not as desirable become more desirable?  Not sure if it works that way.  Will a puerh drinker who is infected always have inferior ability to select puerh compared compared to those not infected?  This very recent article in the journal Nature surveyed the science behind it and it sure got me thinking of all this stuff.  The amount of people with long term dysfunction is startlingly high to me!  For drinkers and connoisseurs of puerh, regardless of what your position is on the pandemic, this is concerning.

Anyways, we puerh drinkers can breathe a sigh of relief as the Omicron Variant becomes dominant worldwide.  Not only, and most importantly, it is much less fatal and causes much less serious illness.  But particularly of interest to those who indulge in the sensory pleasures of puerh, infection from Omicron has shown to effect taste and smell way way less than previous variants- it’s actually considered a “rare symptom” of Omicron.  No doubt a relief to puerh drinkers worldwide… in a trivial kind of way… 

Peace