Tea as a Meditation and Ritual

This morning I had a conversation with Lynayn Mielke about tea. Lynayn is an acupuncturist, and an expert on tea. The majority of her experience and emphasis comes from the Chinese approach and tea ceremonies, but that’s definitely not all she knows.

We talked about how perfect brewing tea is for cultivating a ritual of mindfulness. That there aren’t a lot of ways to pursue mindfulness that give you direct feedback on how mindful you were. With a cup of tea, the quality of the outcome says a lot about how much attention you paid to the process. 

Here’s some of what I learned from our conversation. Some of this may seem obvious, but maybe this is a new way to see it. Or at least it was new to me. 

Tea is a form of alchemy. In Taoism there’s inner alchemy, and outer alchemy. Brewing the tea, the transformation of it all, that’s outer alchemy. Then the experience within you as you perform this ritual is inner alchemy. Beautiful, right?!

We all know that there are three components of making a good cup of tea. You need the water, the leaf, and time.

We can also emphasize the temperature and source of the water. Especially when brewing something like green or white tea, which you can easily burn with water that’s too hot. 

You can consider the source of the water. Fresh spring water is often considered the best, but not the kind that comes in single use plastic bottles. See if there’s a spring near where you live where you can collect safe drinking water. Then bring large reusable jugs. 

Some people think that green tea doesn’t taste good, but I can almost guarantee that the tea was either burned, or that there’s another tea from another region that you would like. My favorite is Jasmine Pearl Green Tea. It’s a fancy tea. I also like fancy incense, that’s just how I roll. 

When you make consuming tea into a ritual there are aspects of this that we often overlook. Lynayn talked about the “agony” of the tea. This is when you take the dry brittle leaves, and pour hot water over them, causing them to transform into soft supple leaves that release a valuable essence. 

This can be a metaphor for life. What situations have been similar to having hot water poured over you, this agony and suffering, but brought out something in you that was beautiful? 

When the tea steeps, you get this aroma. For me it was the aroma that first attracted me to tea drinking. Taking a moment to enjoy the aroma of the tea is an important part of this ritual. It’s part of pausing to enjoy the beauty of the tea. 

Obviously drinking the tea is part of the whole experience. A lot of Westerners add sugar or milk to their tea. I’m a purist, I don’t like to add things to my tea. I think when trying to make a ritual out of tea drinking, it would be beneficial to forgo adding anything to your tea. To experience the tea as it’s been experienced for thousands of years, rather than masking it.  (Edit: unless you drink chai, then please make me some too!)

Maybe you need to try a few different kinds of teas to see which one you enjoy without extra stuff added. There are so many interesting ones.

One that I really enjoy has this warm and welcoming aroma. I usually prefer Chinese teas, but this is a Japanese tea. It’s called Genmai Cha (cha means tea). It has toasted rice mixed with the green tea. Sometimes the toasted rice pops and looks like tiny popcorn in your dry tea. 

Sometimes you might feel like looking into the history of the tea. For example, Genmai Cha was originally a tea for poor people, the toasted rice was added as a filler to reduce the cost. Over time people figured out that it was a good tea if you’re stomach doesn’t feel well, or to stave off hunger while fasting. The nutty taste that comes from the toasted rice has made it a popular tea which has become common at all levels of society. 

I just like how it tastes. 

My Jasmine Pearl Green Tea comes in tightly wound little balls that unfurl when you pour hot water over them. There are also blooming teas that are bound such that they unfurl to reveal what could be considered a sculpture of a flower made out of tea. Those are especially fun in a clear glass vessel. 

If you’re a tea drinker, or want to become one now, I’d love to hear from you. What makes tea special for you? What is your favorite tea? Do you make it a meditation? I’ll check back to see if you’ve left me any comments, but right now…I need to go make a cup of tea. 

*Typos provided at no additional charge.