The Way of Tea: Part One
Recently, tea has become an essential component of my daily spiritual practice.
I feel I have had a personal spiritual revolution, all within this simple white porcelain cup of hot water and tiny buds.
It seems to me that the way we approach a cup of tea reveals much about our way of life.
A cup of tea holds the sun, the heaven, and the earth. Tea holds the effort of people, in growing and harvesting, and in tending to the buds. There is an art to the growing, in the rolling and roasting. There is art in the careful monitoring is used to determine the type of tea that will be produced. There is the care in shipping and storing, in knowing how to tend to the water, and the steeping and pouring.
Is your tea rushed, a tea bag, poured into a travel mug, as you head out the door?
Is your tea slow, brewed from finely crafted tea buds, placed in simple but beautiful handmade pots, steeped mindfully and in quiet?
Do you drink your tea while watching the news or scrolling through the feed?
Do you drink your tea while watching the trees or sitting with your cat?
Do you drink your tea with loved ones or completely alone?
Tea has always been important to me, but it has taken many forms. My first memory of drinking tea was at our local Chinese restaurant in town. The tea came out in a small, unassuming metal teapot. The tea was dark and smoky. I added many packets of sugar to those tiny tea cups, and I think that is when the leaves first called me into their realm.
These days, I have grown to love an exquisitely produced Oolong tea. Oolong means “dark dragon,” and I love to look at the tea leaves unfurling in my cup and imagine many tiny Dragons swimming. Oolong is a semi-oxidized form of the Chinese tea plant (Camellia sinensis) produced through a process that includes withering the leaves under intense sun and allowing oxidation to occur before curling and twisting. I have come to learn that crafting an Oolong is an art form and an expression of the spirit and energy of Tao, the oneness of the universe. I believe I taste that in the cup.
Today, I am drinking a Zhangping Shuixian Oolong. As my supplier states, it is one of the rarest and most culturally significant oolong teas in the world—and the only traditionally pressed oolong in China. This oolong has a soft floral aroma, smooth body, and gradually unfolding flavor. “This tea is both a sensory experience and a living piece of history.”
I will be writing more regularly as I step more fully onto the Way of Tea. I hope to share my tea musings and my continued learning and growth with these amazing tiny buds of wholeness.
‘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. Live the actual moment.’ ~Thich Nhat Hanh
photo by Drew Jemmett
cup of tea, photo by Drew Jemmet
