Making vs. Experiencing Tea

Anyone can make tea, and with practice and trial and error, many people can make tea that they like. But the difference in making and experiencing tea, comes about with the attention you pay to detail in the preparation. Simply grabbing a mug from a cabinet, and tossing a teabag into it, and pulling it sometime later, yes you made tea. But do you have any sort of attachment to that tea? Was it more refreshing than any other beverage you could have chosen to make or open? In short what made that tea special and unique?



A warm beverage on a cold day can be relaxing, and quite welcome. While you may be attached to a cup of tea in the morning to get you going. Though when you prepare tea like that there is little difference from a cup of coffee, other than personal preference. But if you spent a great amount of time hunting for that perfect cup, picked out that perfect tea, and spent a great deal of care into trying to make that tea sing for you. You are much more likely to be experiencing that tea.

Often we find ourselves searching for a way to better experience that tea. I spent 3 hours on the floor one night drinking tea, to see if it would change anything. While that made little change for me, what did make a great difference was me improving my posture. If I sit straight up, while enjoying tea, it in an indescribable way is much more enjoyable. Others search for the same series of returns from searching for an older pot, or a new way of heating the water, or a different cup.

In short there is no right way, just as I’m sure there is no wrong way. It is perhaps that tea is just a liquid mirror that only reflects in its taste, the amount of effort and practice we put into the drink itself.