James Norwood Pratt, one of the world's best known authorities on tea and tea lore and a regular contributor to T Ching, has joined forces with The Santa Fe Opera in staging a Festival of Tea this summer in Santa Fe. “This will be the biggest tea party America has seen since the unfortunate incident [...]
I had the pleasure of reviewing a new book by Beatrice Hohenegger called Liquid Jade. I enjoyed reading this small book and thought I’d share a passage to inspire you to check it out. She found a wonderful passage by Thich Nhat Hanh…
“You can organize a tea meditation to provide an opportunity for [...]
[L - R: John Dryden, Samuel Pepys and Alexander Pope]
As I said before, the coffeehouse, established for the drinking of one beverage, was soon invaded by the other. Thomas Garway’s was among the first ten or twelve in London. When very young, Pope was taken to meet the aged Poet Laureate John Dryden at Will’s [...]
While tea was brewing in my gaiwan, I came across a translated passage from the Pen Tsao Ching, a Chinese medical book touted as one of the earliest written by the mythical Emperor Shennong:
Tea is better than wine for it leadeth not to intoxication, neither does it cause a man to say foolish things, and [...]
Tea has the blessing of all deities
Tea promotes filial piety
Tea drives away all evil spirits
Tea banishes drowsiness
Tea keeps the five internal organs in harmony
Tea wards off disease
Tea strengthens frienship
Tea disciplines body and mind
Tea destroys the passions
Tea grants a peaceful death
~ Attributed to Japanese Buddhist priest Myoe (1173-1232)
Science Daily reported a preliminary study suggesting that the normal dietary intake of green tea may protect against inflammatory responses of the bladder. Scientists from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine presenting at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association stated that their research could lead to remedies for millions of Americans [...]
In the daybreak hours on Monday May 21st, the Cutty Sark burned and was reduced to a blackened hull. British authorities are treating the fire as a suspicious incident.
At 138 years, the Cutty Sark was the last surviving British tea clipper specifically designed for speed. She left the port of London on her maiden [...]
The coffeehouse was a place where a man was safe from his womenfolk (who were forbidden to enter), and although the ladies in their drawing rooms complained about this, in truth no gentlewoman would have cared to set foot inside such establishments. Smoke from the outsized fireplace mingled with tobacco smoke from the clay pipes [...]
Oolong tea is considered by some connoisseurs to be the ultimate in the art of tea. Not just its manufacture but also the way in which it is enjoyed. With names such as Iron Goddess of Mercy and Golden Buddha, the different kinds are ripe with legendary stories and even the name oolong sounds mystical, [...]
Tea is naught but this:
First you heat the water.
Then you make the tea.
Then you drink it properly.
That is all you need to know.
~ Sen no Rikyu, Zen tea master
(1522 - 1591)
