What Tea Means to Me: My Journey With Tea
By Jonah Arter
For over 5,000 years tea has been a part of human life on a daily basis. On any given day there are millions and millions of people on this planet taking time out of their day to stop and prepare a cup, a pot, a kettle of tea. What is it about this herb that so closely ties it to our species? How has it become such an ingrained part of daily life for so many billions of people on our planet? What is so special about this drink? If you are like me you have spent time over many cups of tea meditating on these same questions. Unfortunately, I don’t have the answers. What I can share however is my own personal experience with this amazing plant and its effect on me.
Many people for many different reasons enjoy tea. For some, like wine, there can be many hours spent tasting all the subtle variations of a particular tea and comparing it with other teas, grading, judging and determining its value or worth. Others enjoy very specific flavors of tea and spend their time searching for these particular varieties. In many parts of the world tea is an afterthought, an inextricable part of daily life that has been ever present and as commonplace as a bowl of cereal in the morning. Many spiritual seekers throughout history have ascribed metaphysical benefits to tea, while modern science has pointed at the multitude of health benefits associated with tea. It is safe to say that this is just a sampling of some of the avenues of tea worship that are available to the tea novice. However before you decide, I implore you to listen to my story:
About 8 years ago I was an idealistic young man who had a passion for sharing the healing benefits of certain herbs. Unfortunately the herb I was the most passionate about sharing was not quite legal and I was reticent to share my love of this herb too loudly, lest it fall on the wrong ears and lead to the end of my freedom loving ways. As I continued down this path of exploration it became quite clear to me that the secrecy associated with this particular plant (not to mention the use of the plant itself) was somewhat detrimental to my well-being. Gripped with this dilemma I solemnly asked the universe to provide me with an alternative that would share the same positive qualities and allow me to leave the negative ones behind.
Enter tea: I was soon thereafter invited to attend a tea ceremony at a local tea house. Having no frame of reference as to what a tea ceremony was, my mind conjured up images of people kneeling and solemnly raising cups of tea to salute the setting sun. What I found instead was a grizzled ex-marine who treated tea as if it was a magic wand. And indeed for him it was. I found myself feeling as if I had just been reunited with an old friend that I had completely forgotten. "Of course tea!" I thought. "I remember tea!" Within minutes of sitting down at that table I knew tea was something I would learn to do. I knew tea was the answer to the question of what I would replace the old herb with. I immediately purchased my first tea set and began studying tea with my new found tea-cher (pun intended).
Over the next few years I began to form my own relationship with tea, utilizing aspects of his shaman/healer nature and blending in my own love of connection and authentic communication. My passion and interest in tea and Chinese culture were further fueled by my reconnection with a long lost friend from school who had been living in China and studying Chinese culture for several years.
He and I spent countless hours around the tea table talking about how we could best communicate traditional Chinese tea culture to a western audience without the essence getting lost in translation. About two years after he and I began our tea journey we were given an opportunity to buy the shop where I had first learned to pour tea. Needless to say we jumped at the idea. It was there that the first seeds of The Whole Leaf were planted.
I won't bore you with all the details of our adventures running a shop together and the coming and going of various partners, but let us suffice it to say that it was quite a learning experience. It seemed at times that through our little shop passed some of the most learned (spiritually and technically) tea masters one could hope to find. From vice-presidents of some of the most respected tea research institutes in China to traveling Daoist teachers to 16 year old surfing tea gurus to wandering madmen with crazy wisdom to share. And while the shop and the original partnership no longer exist their spirit lives on in me and (it is my most sincere wish) through The Whole Leaf.
So, you might ask, "What is the point of all this?" "What does tea mean to you?" "What does tea mean to me?" Well here it is: Tea for me has been a journey of self-discovery. There have been times when I drink it and times when I don’t, but throughout it has remained. Through the business and sharing of tea I have learned more about myself than I would have thought possible. And now 9 years later, a husband and father of a 3 year old, I look back on my journey with tea and I am able to reflect on how far I have come and I see that it all started with stopping to taste a cup of tea.
So my advice to you the newly initiated tea drinker (or even to the most seasoned tea connoisseur) is not to get too caught up in the details and particulars of tea right away, they will come in due time. Find a good friend and try a few teas with them. It doesn't matter if it is green tea, white tea, oolong tea, pu'er tea, super premium grade or anything else. Explore them all.
What matters most is that you take the time to taste the tea and in doing so taste yourself. How are you feeling? Does the tea taste better when you are happy? Does it taste better when you are sad? Do you prefer to drink alone or with company? How does your breathing change when you stop to smell and drink? Do you like the tea? It is this essence of self-exploration and discovery that I would pass on to you, for in the opinion of this well steeped writer, that has been the sweetest brew.
