How we read the world shapes our lives. Whether we are reading the sun’s place in the sky to tell time, the weather to understand harvest cycles, or animals’ behaviors to tell us about the weather, how we read natural events as well as our own experiences shapes our perceptions and actions in the world. [...]
My recent foray into becoming an adoptive parent has opened up for me a world of delightful teas and beautiful tea ceremonies. Six months ago, my husband and I were approved and put on a waiting list to adopt a child from Taiwan. To prepare for our new adventure, we have been exploring the culture [...]
Recently I was asked by one of my clients to host a tea tasting at her spa for Valentine’s Day.
I started to think about what I wanted to share with my guests that day. Preferably something totally new by way of both my talk and the experience – something related to love.
I contemplated all the [...]
In this world, as I see it, both visible and invisible history exists for every physical object. I’ve been thinking about what holds tea, and how that shapes its taste as well as how we drink it. There is a history behind each ceramic cup we hold, whether singularly handmade or molded in large quantities. [...]
“Thus prepared the guest will silently approach the sanctuary and, if a samurai, will leave his sword on the rack beneath the eaves, the tearoom being preeminently the house of peace.” - Kakuzo Okakura
Japanese warriors - samurai - followed Bushido, a code of conduct that stressed frugality, loyalty, mastery of martial arts, and fight [...]
Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591) is undoubtedly the most renowned tea master in Japanese history. Born in Sakai near the end of Japan’s warring era, he performed tea ceremonies for powerful feudal lords Nobunaga Oda and Hideyoshi Toyotomi, and was the latter’s confidant.
Sen no Rikyu collaborated with Hideyoshi in the construction of the Golden Tea Room [...]
In 1731, a Japanese Zen priest observed Chinese immigrants, living in Nagasaki, drinking sencha - steeped or infused tea. Sencha liberated tea drinkers from the rigid rules and expensive tea room decorations of chanoyu and represented a rejection of the chanoyu regime.
What is sencha? Is it a type of tea leaf? Is it a ceremony? [...]
Yoon Hee Kim is an oasis of calm as she steeps a beautiful Korean early spring green tea. With deft movements and the deepest focus, she is a dynamo, sourcing and blending tea, teaching the Korean tea ceremony, and in the process, paying homage to her family’s long history of involvement in the tea business. [...]
In 1839, following an economic conflict, Great Britain declared war on China. The main issue concerned the exchange of Chinese tea for opium, coming from India. Following the Chinese government’s prohibition on opium, English warships were sent to the bay of Canton, one of the most important opium trade ports in the country. The British [...]
Given the small turnout for opening day of the Steeped in History: The Art of Tea exhibit at UCLA’s Fowler Museum, my expectation for the turnout at the first of several lectures associated with the exhibit was low. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised. When I entered the auditorium in the basement of the building housing [...]
