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 T'sao Ching (本草经), 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, [...]

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)