🫖 Part Two: How to make simple moments more reverent
I may have mentioned that I am passionate about the beautiful beverage of tea.
I enjoy any tea, whether it's made from leaves, bark, or roots, steeped or boiled in water, and whether it's herbal or caffeinated. I always fill a thermos with tea for my daily outings, and when I travel overnight, I bring along a wide variety of trusty tea bags or loose-leaf tea and a strainer.
However, I have developed a more profound reverence for this ancient beverage over the past few months. This new passion has me visiting local tea huts and tea houses, researching different types of teas, reading about tea, and meditating with a steamy cup of oolong each day. Tea has become an essential component of my daily spiritual practice.
Tea is the second most popular beverage in the entire world.
Water is first, coffee is the third.
Tea is treated differently in Eastern and Western traditions. In Eastern traditions, tea represents harmony with nature and the gentle facilitation of meaningful exchanges, contemplative solitude, and spiritual practice. In contrast, the West has embraced tea as an emblem of refined leisure, and tea was a primary reason for colonialism. Clearly, I am more interested in the original Eastern roots of meaning and intention.
All tea varieties (not including herbal teas, which are technically considered ‘tisanes’ in the West, and not 'teas') come from the Camellia sinensis plant. From this one tree, we get the many different types of teas: black teas, puerhs, oolongs, green tea, and white tea. The way in which the tea leaves are grown, harvested, dried, and processed creates the vast array of tea varieties.
Oolong is my favorite tea, and there are many, many varieties of oolong. Currently, my top three favorites are: Tung Ting, Dark Roast, Zhangping Shuixian Oolong Tea Cakes, and Ti Quan Yin. Oolong teas are partially oxidized in the sun before being rolled and dried. The name “oolong” translates to “Dark Dragon,” as the soaked tea leaves in the cup resemble little dark dragons. Oolongs have a vast flavor profile potential: they can be sweet and fruity with honey aromas, woody and thick with roasted aromas, or green and fresh with complex aromas. I love them all.
Oolong tea is rich in an amino acid called L-theanine, which studies have shown to have cognitive benefits, including improved brain activity, enhanced sleep quality, and reduced stress and anxiety.
Tea has a wide range of health benefits, such as:
protecting you from bone loss
boosting your immune system
reducing your risk of heart attack and stroke
soothing your digestive system
and providing a great no-calorie alternative to water
But I am primarily interested in how tea helps me be more mindful and reverent in my day-to-day life.
How to Make Your Tea Experience More Reverent.
We need to find small ways to make simple moments in each day more reverent. We live in a fast-paced, throw-away culture. It takes the sacred out of all our experiences. No wonder we feel so empty and disconnected. So here are some ideas to help make tea a more mindful, spiritual, and ceremonial experience for you
Set the Stage: Find a tea tray and add a candle, incense, or flowers. Gather some lovely tea cups and tea pots. The aesthetics of the experience can make it feel more reverent.
Steep your tea with intention: Choose a carefully crafted tea, and offer an intention for the tea experience. As you warm the water, imagine the water being infused with both the tea and your intention.
Sip with compassion: This intention is inspired by Zhena of Magic Hour Tea. “Before you sip, take three deep breaths into your heart. With the first breath, fill the breadth of your cup with the energy from your heart chakra. With the second breath, still the space with that same loving energy. And with your third breath, fill the house, the neighborhood, and out into the universe with your overflowing love.”
Contemplate with your tea: As you sit and sip, ask yourself five sensory questions:
1. What do I see?
2. What do I hear?
3. What do I feel?
4. What do I smell?
5. What do I taste?
And this experience is even more amplified when you invite loved ones into the tea experience.
May this practice invite more grace and gratitude into your simple daily tea experience. Indulge in those infusions knowing that you are bringing the goodness of the plants into your body and being.
With gratitude for a steaming pot of tea,
Angie
My Favorite Tea Quotes
“There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be diminished by a nice cup of tea.” – Bernard-Paul Heroux
“Tea time is a chance to slow down, pull back and appreciate our surroundings.” – Letitia Baldrig
“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
"If you wish to awaken from a dream, drink tea." – Lu Yu, tea master of the Tang Dynasty
