While I was traveling on Jeju Island in Korea, I visited the family of my friend, Yongtag. As in all traditional Korean families, the core of the family is the mother because she cares physically and emotionally for each family…
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The flavor of Zen and the flavor of tea is the same.- A Japanese proverb Siddhartha Gautama, The...
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A huge part of my job as a tea importer trying to establish Chinese tea service as a cultural practice in America is drawing analogies. This is quite easy when it comes to the tea itself – good tea, like good wine, beer, chocolate, coffee, liquor, or pretty much
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There is no mastery in self-service. In this tradition we don’t learn to make tea but to serve tea. True mastery must be in the service of mankind. As we progress, we come to understand that we serve the evolution of consciousness itself, and that the growth and
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Tea has always been the emblem of civilization and peace. “Through tea make friends” is an old proverb expressing the sentiments we share with tea. Tea isn’t always deep and transcendent; it is sometimes a time/space of calm joy, where we can celebrate old friends and make new ones.
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Tea is a spiritual path, a Dao. In living a life of tea we realize that in all we do, we are preparing tea. What we eat affects our tea, as does the way we treat people. One of our masters always says, “If you want to learn to make tea, you must first learn to be a person.” That’s easier said than done.
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Learning to revere tea as medicine is important to us. Tea is a great healer, of body, mind and spirit. The earliest encyclopedia of Chinese herbs to mention tea stated that it “brightens the eyes.” This is a powerful expression of why Shen Nong,
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These leaves are earth, soil and rock, wind and water. Through them we drink in the weather. And they are also an expression of what is beyond our planet, absorbing sun, moon and starlight in photosynthesis. Plants don’t have a feeling of separation or
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The true meaning of this Way of Tea is only hinted at by words, as much adumbrated by them, and we can but hope to catch a dappled glimpse of it through the leaves we write and say. If there is a Way, a Path of Tea to be walked and lived it is surely in the growing,
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You can tell a lot about artisans by how they care for their tools. The same can be said of a musician and her instruments, or a chef and his knives. Just as a master of any skill or craft can be distinguished from an amateur by that singular, effortless grace known to the Chinese as gong fu,
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Unique Tea Experiences at the Dobra Tea House – Yerba Mate A trip to the Dobra tea house has...
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Nourishing The Body Recognition of tea’s health-supporting, mind-alerting, body-calming and...
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