The Tea Party

 

I think a tea party is the multimedia confluence of all culture. Everywhere it goes, tea inspires ceremony and art. Coffee is similar, but more exciting and less soothing. Coffee houses are fine places for slam poetry and to plan revolutions. Tea culture is more refined.

There is the English tea, and tea gardens, and fine China, and dressing in your finest, and finger sandwiches, and polished silver, and parasols. 

And then there is the Japanese tea ceremony, and meditation, and tea rooms with some featured objet d’art and a garden view. One is supposed to contemplate the cracks in the teacup. 

There are similar Chinese and Korean tea ceremonies and tea gardens. Suzhou is famous for its tea gardens; there is a fine one recreated in Vancouver. In China, the ideal is a white porcelain teacup so thin in spots that you can see the tea through the porcelain. In Korea, tea is served in thick green celadon cups. There must always be an odd number of cups, and guests. The tea houses of Insadong are famous; each has a theme. One has an actual stretch of railroad track inside. Every village had its tea house, where you would go for philosophical discussions or just to catch the news. 

In Russia, there are the traditions of the samovar; and reading fortunes in the tea leaves. 

In Thailand and in Kashmir, there is an elaborate dance to aerate the tea. Watching the performance is a large part of the experience. 

In India, there is masala chai, with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ginger, and pepper. I’ve learned how to make it; but it is an elaborate production that easily takes half an hour. 

In Tibet, tea is served with pink yak’s milk and salt. It is a taste I have not acquired, but perhaps leads to enlightenment. 

In Morocco, it must be gunpowder green tea with mint and much sugar. In brightly coloured cups.

In the Southern US, if you give them something hot with milk or cream, they’re shocked. Tea is cold in a high glass with ice and lemon.

In England, debates about how to make a perfect cup of tea have gone on for decades, centuries, and include essays by famous writers like Charles Lamb, George Orwell, and Douglas Adams. Milk first? Warm the cup?

I think tea gathers culture around it because it soothes and concentrates the mind. One is open to philosophical ponderings and aesthetic appreciation. It is the thinking man’s drink. It comes to us originally from Buddhist monasteries.

I’m totally into it. In vino veritas; but in eternity, you hear the sound “tea.”