10 Things to Love About the Ritual of Tea

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The 4,000 practice of pouring tea, commonly known as Gongfu Cha, practiced originally in China, then on to Taiwan, and even Japan, is centered in mastery, or skill of tea, through self discipline, in order to prepare the tea to its highest potential. Gong is the method of training skill through self discipline, and Cha is the translation of the character for tea-- which itself, translates to the plant or tree, that connects people to earth.

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Here are 10 Things to Love About the Ritual of Tea

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1) Tea is incredibly healthy for you when grown organically, and in its true form and habitat-- packed with micronutrients and polyphenols. This allows it to be a productive addition to your daily routine.

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2) Tea pouring requires extreme discipline and focus to brew properly in gongfu-style, you can't be distracted or the tea will not come out to its best potential throughout its steeping. 

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3) Tea pouring exists within circular movements, which like the practice of Taiji, (Tai Chi), is a dynamic, physically active meditation, that can help combine the body, breath, and mind/ soul.

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4) Tea combines many different elements of nature such as fire for heat, water for drinking, plant material for the tea leaves themselves, earthenware clay teapots, and or wooden tea tables. This makes tea a way to tangibly experience the different aspects of nature, no matter your location.

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5) Like ever-changing-chants in Tibetan, and or Hindu, or Christian history (gregorian chant, etc), tea is a complex and ever evolving experienced when poured in gongfu style, as the flavor and essence changes through the different steepings. This allows a more interesting form of presence than other repetitive dynamic meditations, that can seem stagnant in their practice.

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6) Traditional centering meditations, can sometimes be hard to connect to, from our current pace of life in the modern day with the current technology, quicker data interactions, or what have you. Tea is a way to connect with the present moment, and breath, without having to close your eyes and have a much smaller focal point, which can be harder to maintain a practice with, as with traditional meditation.

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7) Tea is "the drink of the awakened ones" for a reason, specifically at Buddhist temples and within other lineages over the world, where monks are known to meditate for long hours on end. This is because the combined effect of the two most prominent compounds in tea, namely caffeine, and l-theanine --which works on the GABA receptors, which in turn relax the central nervous system-- create a synergistic effect that is calming for the body, but stimulating for the mind. With high quality tea, whether specifically for meditation, or just maintaining energy, you can slowly build a sustained state of calm focus, that lasts far longer, and doesn't include the jitters or crash of coffee-- which lacks the l-theanine compound.

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8) Tea is a beautiful, and true, method of building relationships with other people. There are few things left in our society that have the ability to allow people to hang out and just connect about life in a direct way-- food, and alcohol, are the most common forms in our current society-- which can be less involved, and less meaningful much of the time-- not to mention harder to put away our phones and truly focus with each other, than it seems to be with tea pouring.

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9) High-End Tea, is by nature, very seasonal, as it is not blended to create a single flavor that will be the same for years, like with lower grade bagged teas. Similar to wine, due to the terroir dependent nature of the tea plant, the flavor varies wildly based on processing methods. This allows oneself to use a "control" more or less, namely the tea plant camellia sinensis itself (which despite processing methods, generally contain the same compounds), to really tune in to what their body wants  during the time of the day, or even with the changes of the seasons. Fresh green teas and oolongs are harvested in early spring, and they suitably fit the transition to hotter weather, and fermented tea (which stores longer than fresh harvested teas), such as puerh, are more satisfying and grounding in the colder winter months. This makes tea a fun and tangible way to learn about yourself, your interactions with the world and seasons, and your patterns of what can help you in certain situations-- whether it be a lighter, more focused experience, or a heavier, more grounding experience.

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10) Tea is an incredibly cool way to learn about the history of Asia, and even connect to some of the practices of Zen Buddhism, and Taoism. It is an integral part of the lifestyle and community of many autonomous peoples in China, Taiwan, Japan, and elsewhere. I personally am infatuated with the history of Asia, and how tea has made its way throughout different cultures over the past 4,000 years, the wars that were fought over it, the connections that were made through it-- and the story continues with us, and how we choose to interact with this plant in our communities. 

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