Why Tea Matters
loose leaf tea
In a world of chaos, we need tea. What tea offers is a ritual. A moment of presence. A moment to create the reality of the day, the week, the month or the year.
It begins with water. The elixir of life. Filtered is best. Fresh spring water if it’s your privilege. I want to heat my water on a stone, warmed by a fire, but as a city dweller I’ll settle for my electric kettle with the perfect temperature setting so I don’t have to think much about it and my tea has the best flavor and warmth for sipping. Not too hot, unless you’re brewing herbs, and then the time you steep will cool the brew for drinking. I use the finest tea, preferably TGFOP (tippy golden flower orange pekoe). It is the largest leaf with the most flavor, nutrients and liquor (color of the tea). No two teas are alike. Even if they are called by the same name, they often are very different. This rests in the leaf’s terroir. Where it was grown, when it was picked, how it was cured.
Then there is the vessel. The cast iron pot, the glass jar, the porcelain tea pot from England, the hand thrown gaiwan. What sings to you, what is practical, what is available. These don’t have to be specific, but if you’re creating a transcendental experience over pouring your morning cuppa, the vessel becomes the container from which magic is poured.
How do you keep time? You brew by sense. Watch the color change after pouring the water over the leaves. This is why I like a clear vessel. I’m forced to engage with the unravelling. Whether gunpowder, pearl or twisted leaf, dried petals and leafs, waxy berries, engaging with the transformation of the leaves feels essential to a transcendental experience. It connects the drinker to the grower, the land, the sun of the plant matters life on earth. It’s connection to ourselves; it was made for us to consume, to heal the body, mind and spirit, to carry us into our days and soften us into our nights.
Tea is a companion for the weary, and a balm for the sick. A catalyst to healing and a craft to the aficionado. For me it is pure medicine of the earth bfinging me back in alignment with myself, my home the earth, and with spirit curling out from the cup, and surrounding me with mystery. I, without intention, soothe my nervous system far beyond relaxation and into the space of alchemy.
The action of brewing tea sends a signal of safety to the brain. Nothing is being over stimulated or dulled. In fact is requires attention and awareness to do it just right. Tea is a catalyst to change. It can rewire a person’s nervous system one pot of tea at a time.
