What Is Tea?

What do you think tea is? I do not sell second-hand knowledge; I only share my own perceptions.

1. Tea is a drink.

Tea exists to quench thirst - and it tastes better than water.
If you agree with that, congratulations: you have found tea's core function.
The main job of a beverage is to quench thirst. Like iced black tea on a hot summer day, tea that cannot quench your thirst is simply playing tricks. Yet many teas fail to quench thirst.
Remember: quenching thirst comes first.

2. Tea is a healthy beverage.

Beyond thirst, if you expect more from tea, wellness is the most common request.
Tea can detox, help lose weight, relieve stress, lower the three highs - some even say it prevents cancer...
Really?
I am not a doctor, and I do not know. If you came to this site for those claims, you may leave now - I do not serve content I do not understand.

Let me tell you what I have felt.

Tea calms me down.

When I am agitated, I brew tea alone and shift my attention to it; after a few cups I am no longer so annoyed. Tea quiets me.

Tea dissolves my fatigue.

When I am tired I also like to sit down for a cup. Tea seems to have a magic that relaxes my body - the tiredness suddenly lightens.

Tea cuts through grease.

After a heavy, greasy, over-full meal, a few cups wash away the discomfort almost at once.

Tea keeps me from boredom.

I often feel that sitting down for a few brews makes a whole day pass - tea makes life vivid.

Tea melts the distance between people.

Even with a stranger, if we both love tea, we can chat for hours non-stop. Tea seems to make me better at connecting.

Tell me what you feel.

I list all this so you know what tea does to me - and there can be more, but only what you yourself can feel counts. Not resold second-hand knowledge, not someone else's feelings.
What I feel, you may not; what you feel, I may not; even opposite feelings are fine. What matters is your own honest feeling.

Be your true self and trust your own feeling about tea - that is the foundation for continuing to visit this website.

Otherwise, please leave!

Repeating what you love is a form of wellness.

If tea relaxes you, drink it when tense, drink it when angry - cultivating your mind is also wellness.
If tea cuts through grease for you, drink it after rich meals - that too is wellness.
Repeating your favorite tea at the moments that matter to you is wellness. That is the wellness of tea as I understand it.

3. Tea is a vessel for self-cultivation.

I touched on this above, but it deserves its own section because I think it is important.
In Guangdong I once watched two people quarreling fiercely - I really thought they would come to blows - until one suggested a cup of tea. And sure enough, they sat down at a tea table and drank together.
Once tea becomes a habit, I face everything with a kind of calm - "a dead pig that does not fear boiling water". When making big decisions, I like to think over tea. Of course, my ability is limited and I have made many wrong decisions - that is unavoidable, but it is not tea's fault.
I hope you will treat tea as a vessel for self-cultivation. Coffee works too, and wine as well - do not limit yourself to tea.
Drink tea when there is nothing to do; drink tea when there is everything to do.

4. Tea is a medium that connects the world.

Zen and tea are one; monks use tea to connect with heaven and earth.
Making friends over tea - tea is a medium of sociability.
Tea gatherings - in the name of tea, it is a medium of platform.
Doing business over tea - tea is a medium of commerce.
Tea mediates countless lifestyles; tea can be everywhere.
You reading my articles - tea is the bond between us.

You must find the way tea fits you.

I hope you love tea because of its taste;
and I hope you love tea not only because of its taste.