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Handcrafted Lu Jun Porcel... Category: Some Thoughts
My Morning Indulgence
The sense of concentrating on a simple movement can take my mind off any thoughts. At this moment, the tea, tea wares and I are a whole.
The sense of concentrating on a simple movement can take my mind off any thoughts. At this moment, the tea, tea wares and I are a whole.
It seems to be a ‘must have’ ritual to do a tea ceremony when I just arrive at the shop every morning.
It is a special time for me to put my commuting journey aside and clear my right mind to start the day in the shop. It is the time I can prepare my smile, my heart, and my happy and positive energy. All of these come from a 20-minute tea session.
Spring is a season for those gentle and refreshing teas. Today I picked an aged raw puer tea from 2016. I love how diverse raw puer tea is. This puer tea welcomed me with a wild aroma that took me to the forest in Yunnan. It smelled tameless, yet full of floral notes. Once it was made, a honey note in the aroma immediately grabbed my heart and made me feel calm and centered. The session didn’t last long, but long enough for me to cherish every second of it.
After a few cups, I was already planning the tea for tomorrow.
Now after this post, I shall return to the raw puer tea and find peace from the teapot, the serving jug, and the teacup I use.
What We Can Learn From A Tea Ceremony
In one’s life, there are many teachers who might even change one’s life. As tea drinkers, we have a special one which is tea. We can learn a lot from it.
Tea Teaches us Simplicity
The aroma made from a proper tea ceremony is quiet, soft, and moderate. It slowly travels through our body and put it at ease. It is not superficial, disappearing within seconds. The world is always on the go where one loses oneself so easily. The quality of life gradually deteriorates.
A simple lifestyle becomes a longing desire for many of us. Through a tea ceremony, we enjoy every moment of peacefulness, without too much noise. Coming from the deepest mountains in a simple colour, tea shares the wisdom of simplicity and helps us to find our souls.
Tea Teaches us Kindness
It is important to consider others at a tea ceremony. If you are preparing tea, your mind isn’t just on one or two people, but everyone around the tea table. You will notice who doesn’t have enough in the cup, if the tea is too warm for most people, or if everyone is comfortable. You might also notice someone might be too shy to engage in the conversation and want to help this person to blend in.
As a guest, you might want to keep your voice down so that other people can talk. You might also want to show your gratitude to the tea maker for his/her kind service. Maybe putting your phone down and focusing on the experience is also something we can do to enjoy a nicely presented tea ceremony.
Tea Teaches us Patience
A tea ceremony requires a lot of practice. It always involves many steps you have to go through to make an unforgettable experience, from boiling water, warming up the tea wares to making the tea, serving it. Each round deserves our attention to the very details.
When you are sitting around the table, you would learn to be respectful and patient. There is no rush to reach the teacup right after the tea is served because you could burn your fingers. You learn to wait for other people to finish their tea and start the next round.
Tea is a healthy lifestyle that brings people closer in a relaxing, friendly and respectful environment. With August Moon Tea, you can always learn the art of tea.
The Most Important Thing in a Garden
What is the best this thing in a beautiful garden?
Nowadays, we all have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of places to go. We have to fulfil our duties and our responsibilities. We are always there for someone.
But what about ourselves? Have you thought about yourself? Have you thought about having a spa for yourself? Have you thought about listening to some music by yourself? Have you thought about enjoying some silence?
We hardly have any space now which is why I asked the question at the beginning.
We all need a little bit of time and space for ourselves. We also want to enjoy life itself. If everyone’s heart is a garden, we have trees, flowers, buildings, streams, birds which all belong to the garden. However, without space, we wouldn’t be able to see any of these beautiful things. So we need this space and the time.
A tea ceremony creates this space you need in your garden that helps us to appreciate what we have in the garden. You sit down with the teawares that tell you different stories, the tea you select just for yourself, and the music and incense that take you to an inner world. Everything, at this very moment, becomes so clear and tranquil.
It doesn’t mean being selfish when you have a moment for yourself. It’s actually the opposite. We feel relieved, renewed and relaxed.
So what is the most important thing in the garden?
A Cup of Tea Slows the World Down
We never see anyone who rushes with a cup of hot tea.
A cup of tea allows you to pause for a moment.
When you want to enjoy some tea, not for your thirsty throat, you won’t have a huge bottle, walking and drinking. You will firstly slow down, sit around the table and let your body quiet down and breathe. Tea appreciation starts from the peacefulness of your body and mind.
If someone says to another: come for some tea, this is a type of a generous greeting.
A cup of tea creates a beautiful space for your heart.
There is a type of tea called Japanese samurai tea. When opponents meet, they garden and go into the tearoom through a garden without their Knives. They sit down face-to-face with a cup of tea between them. The whole world is getting quiet. The noises from the battlefield are fading away. What only exists in the whole world is the desire for the cup of tea. In Japan, the tea rooms are normally quite small. The samurais enter and sit down, the distance between the bodies is, the interval between several cups of tea. The environment forces them to almost touch their knees. The static body being so close to each other is very meaningful. People think that the soul will be in the heart of this close distance, and everyone’s beautiful realm of others can be achieved in drinking tea.
A cup of tea plants lotus flowers in your heart
Enjoying tea at this very moment is so important. Without sitting down together, no one would be able to understand the beauty of this. Buddha is enlightened in the lotus flower. Our hearts get peaceful with a cup of tea.
We all need to pause for a moment to review the peacefulness, kindness. Once we sit down with tea, the worries, anxiety and negativity will be cut off. Let alone that the secret of tea appreciation is to slow down.
We all are living in this noisy world where our lives are way too fast. When you are trying to find a way to relax and distress, please remember that a cup of tea that is patiently and respectfully prepared is all you need. Let’s sit still, adjust our breathing, relax our body and regain the joy and curiosity on our journey.
What is time? What is happiness? What is life? We can all find the answers from a cup of tea we are holding at this moment. We need it to take our time, pause, and look at this world, then look at ourselves. Maybe the world is better when you take time.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Drinking tea isn’t just about health benefits
I have been running August Moon Tea for 11 months. So many people have asked me the same question: what are the health benefits of tea? Of course, I have answered many times patiently according to my knowledge of tea. But just recently, I realized I had made a big mistake because tea isn’t just about what health benefits it has. It has deeper meanings I should share with people.
Having tea in our way isn’t just dipping a tea bag in a mug. Instead, it requires a lot of skills, knowledge. It requires the tea maker to practice so many time to make tea for the guests. So I want to share some of my thoughts on why we need tea.
Tea is a form of art. The way you present your tea table shows who you are, what your taste is like, what your personality is. Some people prefer simple style, some people pursuit expensive tea wares. Some people like bright colours, some people just darker colours. There isn’t right or wrong. But you will find some settings are easy to use, some are not. So the way we present the tea table should make tea making easy and fluent. You need to carefully pick the right theme for the tea, for people, and for the surrounding atmosphere. It needs a lot of effort. But the good thing is the more you practice, the better you will be.
Of course, Chinese tea culture has such a long history, it’s deeply rooted in Chinese philosophy. When we drink tea, we also experience the culture and philosophy behind it. For example, we use a fair mug to serve our guests equally; or we don’t cross our arms around the tea table to show our respect to everyone; or we only make tea cups 80% full so that our guests can pick the cups up easily. There are a lot more small details. Chinese tea is a great combination of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism. Probably the ritual of tea is more about Confucianism. But we will quickly dive into the philosophy of Chinese tea.
Daoism is romantic. Our Chinese ancestors have definitely been influenced by the beauty of it. The tea culture is exquisite. It’s also piquant. A little bit of wood branch to decorate the table. Serving tea with both left and right hands to keep the Yin and Yang balanced. Seeking for different streams to make tea in the mountains with the right water…We enjoy tea and get back to the nature mother. Certainly, Buddhism has also influenced our tea culture. The quietness it needs, the mindfulness you can experience when we enjoy tea and the ceremonial nature of tea culture and a lot more are from Buddhism.
When I have tea by myself, I feel the world is quiet for me at this moment. I make friends with tea and chat with it. It feels like a release for me from the daily life. It’s also a good way to know myself better and love myself more. When I make tea for other people, I feel I am building a strong bond with people I serve. I can feel their appreciation, their joy and their peace.
Yes, tea is very healthy when you brew it in the right way. But if we miss the spiritual side of tea, that is a loss for us. Why not join me for a cup of tea in a Chinese way, forgetting the healthy benefits of tea, just for a peaceful moment?