This year I was involved with the Tea Institute at PennState that studies Chinese tea ceremony. Besides receiving the knowledge of GongFu, and being in the flow of events of the tea house, I discovered the beauty of the mindful tea consumption.
Between every sip, holding a small cup of tea in my palms, I
take some time to think about the roads that these tea leaves have traveled,
about the broad geography of tea production, the variety of tea that is
produced from the same tea bushes, hardworking people who work on plantations
of East Africa, India, China, Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Georgia; I think about the
unusual rituals and rich history of tea ceremonies and tea cultures that show
the triumphal anthropological impact on the lives of nations from all over
the world.
I think tea is the only beverage that has given rise to a
number of cups, pots and other “kitchenware wealth”. Its medical, social,
economical, political, religious uses serve as a mirror to different cultures. Millions
of books are telling us the stories about the tea leaves that reached us
through space and time as a medicine, beverage, tribute or spice… Thousands of
temae (body movements) are used for Japanese tea ceremony, hundreds of songs
were written by Chinese poets, days and nights are spent by Buddhist monks who
practice meditation and drink bitter pu’er to stay alert. It plays a crucial
role in important historic events, for example, it was a Fujian tea that filled
Boston Harbor as a sign of freedom.
