My last post featured the glass teapot sculpture of Richard Marquis. Work like his and other fine artists who use the teapot as a theme for non-functional sculpture continues to intrigue me. An teapot artist friend recently suggested that it was the annual teapot competition created by Celestial Seasonings in the late 1990’s that fueled the popularity of interpreting the teapot form in sculptural media. I confess that I was hoping for something more to the spiritual inspiration rather than a tea company’s marketing program. On the other hand, I felt great pride in tea industry that one of the major companies found a way to reward serious artists. The contests continued for about 5 years and artists from every medium were acknowledged. Twenty - thirty works would be selected from hundreds of entries. On the other hand, galleries and art museums have been featuring teapot art for many years. The fact that non-ceramic artists use it in their work isn’t surprising.

But Why Teapots?

It’s a comfortable and easily recognizable form.

They convey sincerity.

It’s a technically challenging form.

Teapots are serious and yet whimsical. . . . . Like tea!

But part of the reason artists create teapots is that museums and galleries organize teapot shows and collectors buy them. And the truth is that of the hundreds of serious teapot collectors in US, many don’t even drink tea.

In a History of Ceramics course I took in the late ’70s there was a story of Kasimir Malevich, a Russian abstract artist (1878-1935) who was asked to design a teapot for factory production. When it was discovered that the teapot didn’t pour well, Malevich is said to have replied, “It’s not about the tea. It’s about the teapot.” Malevich did create several functional designs which are still produced by the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg, Russia. Functional, yes. But they aren’t your grandmother’s traditional teapot. The white cups and pot are a current version of his original, selling today for about $500. Looking at it again, I have to remind myself that this work piece was designed almost a hundred years ago.

Media hype? No.

And I believe that this piece is evidence that there is something in the brewing of tea that intrinsically inspires creativity.

Kate Anderson is another extremely non-traditional teapot artist. Her work is waxed and knotted fiber. She began the series in 1988 and has created a body of work seen in major galleries and highly valued by these non-tea-imbibing collectors.

“Making sculptural art forms by utilizing the repetitive basketry technique called knotting forms the basis of my work regarding content and the blurred edges where art and craft meet. High-art/low-art references come into play by utilizing the teapot, a common craft object, as my sculptural archetype juxtaposed with images appropriated from the world of “high art”. Quotation, allusion, abstraction, and art/craft references all play a part as the knotting process simultaneously creates both structure and image.“

I rem

ain convinced that it must be (as they say) “. . . something in the water!”

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And it is work like this which makes me ask my “Why Teapot?” question again and again.

Richard Marquis has had a profound influence over glass art in the United States and around the world. He was one of the first Americans to study in Venice with the masters of hot glass. Known for their goblets, I cannot help but smile at the addition of little teapots in the stems of elegant glass bowls on pedestals. Whatever his intention for these, I am filled with delight.

And teapots as trophies.

I wanted to share this work with you tea lovers because I believe it will make you smile. And because I feel like tea is being honored when an artist chooses elements of the traditions as part of their visual vocabulary.

Art as an industry, and particularly art education, is one area of our economic crisis being devastated. Art like this will become much more difficult to produce. Teachers and mentors like Richard Marquis will become rare. Some traditions are in danger of being lost from lack of appreciation.

So, I was wondering . . . could it be that the world’s image of tea lovers is that they also have a greater appreciation for the arts?

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Five different people send me articles about Pierre Sernat and his Guerilla Tea Performance Art with links to his YouTube videos. Thank you. It’s right up my alley. Perfect for my ongoing blog conversations on the Art & Spirit of Tea. But I’ve kept it on hold because something about it disturbs me. It generates some issues. All the better in the blogasphere, so I’m told. So, before I say more, please take about 4 minutes to watch and then we will continue.

If you don’t have 4 minutes or a fast enough connection to watch YouTube videos, I’ll summarize. Pierre Sernat has created a portable Japanese-style tea room. He transports it to unusual and unexpected public places where he serves tea to.

These experiences were photographed and were displayed at the 2nd Annual Asian Contemporary Art Show in New York City last November 2008.

Several things about the performance piece that disturbed me - until last week.

I knew I was supposed to appreciate that tea’s core messages - harmony, purity, respect and tranquility - are being shared. I want more people to experince tea. To taste new teas. To share the widely diverse cultural traditions tea has inspired around the world.

I knew I was supposed to be impressed but the voice of my internal critic went into judgmental mode. I reacted to the video as if something sacred had been used as a publicity stunt. But who am I to say that?

The Nature of Criticism

Maybe the time spent in the academic and professional world of art makes me feel that privilege and responsibility. The way in which we learn is to question and criticize. It’s impossible not to bruise sensibilities and find not uncommon to find yourself falling face first into your own emotional debris.

As I’ve said before, it was my art experiences that introduced me to tea. Specifically, the intimacy of the teapot and the integration of narrative and function. Where the sculptural experience sometimes trips over performance art is that we become heavily invested in permanence - making an item that will stand the test of time and hold value for generations. The performance artist is invested in creating a relationship with his audience - in the moment and in memory.

It’s similar to the dichotomy in a life of tea. We celebrate the different cultural ceremonies of tea and collect the equipment but the experience of each cup shared between host and guest is ephemeral.

Tea Ceremony At The World Tea Expo

One of the special events at WTE was “Modern Teaism“. There were several seatings for Tea Ceremony served by Sen So’Oku, the next grand tea master of the Mushakoji-Senke Tea School, and a direct descendant of Sen no Rikyū, founder of the Way of Tea.

It was an honor to be one of the participants. I imagined a very quiet tearoom set in the corner of the trade show. But the Special Events stage was quite bare. Just a simple table in an unusual U-shape. With stools. No tatami mats.

In front of the stage were chairs. A large audience. Within the seated audience were reporters with notepads and photographers with cameras. Cameras with huge lenses. Beyond the seated audience were as many more people standing. Watching.

Tranquility? Not so much. It’s not easy to feel relaxed in front of so many people.

Our hosts began explaining the elements of tea ceremony. The setting. The utensils. The scroll. The rare and unique tea bowls. The matcha. The natsume - the handmade, lidded container for the matcha. We were especially honored to have the artist who made the container present in the audience to explain how he made the exquisite piece.

And somewhere in the experience, embedded in the details and the intention was tranquility.

There was also the connection between my judgmental nature of Pierre Sernat’s Guerilla Tea.

My Conclusions

One thing I love about the Spirit of Tea is the sense of humor. Life lessons can be so entertaining - especially when I am finally able to laugh at my own limitations and become free of them.

The Spirit of Tea is ancient. It has survived wars and economic crises. It has restored the entire agricultural economy of come countries and has been the symbol for political unrest. We humans have created some ridiculous ways to be in conflict with each other over tea - but we have not yet destroyed the foundations on which a life in tea is build. Tea, the leaf and Tea the spirit of the leaf continue in spite of us and our best and worst attempts to commercialize it. To pitch it. To sell it.

Even in the middle of a trade show floor filled with several thousand people - on the main street of Sin City - there can be tranquility. Isn’t that amazing? Whether the teapot is English bone china or a glass and steel French Press. Tea can even survive tiny plastic sample cups and white styro.

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PS: I was also mistaken when I said in my previous blog that I didn’t need to take my electric hot pot and infuser cups to make tea in my room. There is nothing worse than having some of the finest teas in the world on hand and no good way to heat water.

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What’s the big deal about tea that inspires artists and writers?

Indeed, the wares of tea are objects ‘d art and collectibles in their own right. Teapots. Tea bowls. Strainers. Caddies. Chests. Cups & Saucers. Cozies. Painting. . . . Paintings? . . . Yes. Teapot Paintings. I was pleased when the painter, Pamela Cambiazo, offered a comment on the why of her teapot paintings.

Teapots are so much more than vessels for tea; they are the altar of many conversations, they provide social connection and personal comfort, they give pleasure and bring peace, they travel the world, the travel through generations. Every teapot has a story.

Pamela Cambiazo, Painter

I met Pamela at the Victoria Tea Festival in February and was able to saw the display of her work. She is passionate about the form and the function of teapots and is equally sensitive to the emotional attachment we feel for the tangible equipment of tea. It represents something more.

For many of us it is a family connection. We began the habit in our grandparents’ home. For others of us it is new. Perhaps something we wish we had shared with our parents and siblings, but did not. The use of a special pot or cup can trigger a sense of well-being. The act of preparing tea is, in itself, reassuring.

I like Pamela’s phrase, “. . . altars of many conversations. . .”  Talking in real time, face to face, smile to smile. Someone said to me last week, “You can’t Twitter Tea.” A profound and comforting realization.

So here we are - several thousand of us packing bags, registering for seminars, arranging meet-ups and other Las Vegas fun in conjunction with the tea trade. I know people who are packing their teapots and special leaf favorites to brew it in their rooms. The 20+ cups they’ll sample on the trade show floor don’t seem like enough. Others of us bring a favorite infuser cup and never-been-touched-by-coffee water heaters because we know we won’t be able to wait wait to open a new package of leaf until we get home. Been there. Done both.

I’m trying something new this year. Packing light. I’m going to be focusing on the aspect of tea that we can’t order online. It’s not Twitterable. Or Googleable. It’s not limited to the teapot or traditional contents. Just as we all do every year, we will talk until our jaws are sore and mouths dry. We will buy and sell. But mostly, we will meet for conversation. Because at the heart of this business is the spirit of tea who reminds us we are about much more than a beverage.

I’ve come to trust several things about gatherings of tea professionals:

There will be fantastic tea. I don’t need to bring mine from home.

1.  I will discover new ways to brew and serve it. I can leave my tea-to-go kit and make room for an extra pair of comfortable shoes.

2.  There will be some wonderful new discoveries by medical science to prove what ancient cultures have been saying about tea for thousands of years.

3.  And there will be little altars of conversation and in the middle of the noise where I will experience the peacefulness and meaning that lured me into the world of tea in the first place.

4.  I will have a great time!

The Spirit of Tea thrives wherever we create the ‘. . . altars of conversation.”

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But timing is everything. So, if you still have the Sunday Funny Pages in the stack of recycling, check out “Luann” by Greg Evans. If that’s not an option, you can see the strip on the internet. It can be searched by date - March 22, 2009.

http://comics.com/luann/

I’m always on the lookout for ways in which tea inspires artists.  And this is the first time I’ve seen tea hit the funnies. Not that I’ve performed the exhaustive search required to make a definitive statement. But Da Hong Pao is one of my personal favorites. I love the tea and I love the legend - The Small Red Robe. 

I emailed Greg Evans and received a very quick response with permission to mention today’s cartoon in the blog.

A green tea drinker by preference, he said that he discovered the tea in his search for something rare.

Now, I don’t know how many people decide to drink tea based on cartoon strips. And curiousity might lead me to check the stats on Google’s search tools. But it certainly inspired me. It’s snowing in my little Northern California town. And this second infusion of my rare and wonderful leaves is just perfect.

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The answer is, the Trenton Tennessee Teapot Festival.  This year’s annual week-long festival will begin on April 26th. And the list of events for every day fills the entire week. And all of the above events are combined with what we would more commonly think of as tea-themed offerings. There’s an Alice In Wonderland Tea Party and a special Lighting of the Teapots ceremony. There will be a most beautiful and most unusual teapot contest. But, in the Spirit of Tea theme for this blog, Trenton’s festival points to one of the most spiritual qualities of tea. Tea has a way of becoming part of our own culture. What impresses me is the way in which the citizens of Trenton have blended the elements of rural Tennessee life with the historic qualities of tea. The charms of a children’s float decorated with “Wild about Uni-Tea”, a parade entertainer outfitted as a little red teapot and a car sporting a sign, “It’s Tea Time - Let’s Par-Tea” seem wonderfully infused with the tractors, fire engines and convertibles gliding down the main street of town.

And the Teapot Trot is one of the health events - a run through town. 

At a recent gathering of tea people, Norwood Pratt borrowed the lyrics of a song, “Everything old is new again. . .” to talk about tea. At the Trenton Teapot Festival, the ancient traditions of tea find a new format. I would not say that it defines tea in the US. But it does make the social and health aspects its own in ways that bring people together. The old ways from China and Japan and other tea cultures around the world are scarce here. But there is no shortage of creativity. . . . as the old becomes new.

Unity In the Communi-Tea

Festival organizers chose a theme, “Uni-tea In The Community”.  And, in the great tradition of parades, every school band, every public service organization and many local businesses all picked up the teapot theme, decorated their vehicles and celebrated with tea. They’ve been doing this for 29 years and all indications point to this continuing for many more.

Tthe town leaders created the festival in the early 1980’s. The inspiration for the annual festival is The World’s Largest Collection of Porcelain Veilluse-Theieres teapots;  525 teapots dating from 1750 - 1860 form a permanent collection housed in a museum at the Trenton Municipal Building.

The collection was created by Trenton resident, Dr. Frederick Freed and given to the city in 1955. And part of the festival includes tea in the museum with the rare teapot display.

One of the events that caught my attention is the annual lighting of the teapots. On the right is a photograph of this ceremony.  It is a significant part of the history of these lovely teapots to light them. They were known as food warmers in the pre-electrified and pre-microwave era. Long before the warmers supported teapots, the  Veilluse-Theieres porcelaines supported bowls of soup and porridge. The set of teapot and warmer bases are incorporated as one piece.

Tea Festivals

Having recently returned from the Victoria Tea Festival, the idea of city festivals, each unique in planning and design to the local community is of special interest. Imagine tea festivals dotting the maps! But as I check the calendar, I realize that the weekend actually conflicts with another kind of tea festival. World Tea Expo.

I’ve come to think of Expo as a festival; a celebration. I exhibit - yes - and therefore I have a commercial interest. But being an attendee; participating in the classes and events, having a hands-on experience with new products and meeting old friends is always a top priority. I once told George Jage that Expo was like a theme park for me. And the last time I tallied up the expenses for a weekend with the kids at Disneyland, it made three days in Tea Land look like a bargain. We have our parade of new products and hoofing it around the showroom floor can compare with Trenton’s Teapot Trot. What we lack in antique teapots is balanced by teapots and teas in the hundreds of vendor booths.

Alas, we don’t crown a royal tea court. Our competition is between the teas and we have hundreds in the running for this year’s best-of-shows all being packaged now for us to taste at our own kind of festival.

One of these years very soon I’ll be in Trenton for their annual week of tea. I believe the Spirit of Tea is comfortably in residence there.

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One early series of sculptural teapots was made by castings of sewer lids and industrial sized plumbing parts and putting them together with hand-thrown elements. Weighting in at about 50 pounds, they weren’t functional. And since most of them were pit-fired they wouldn’t hold tea for more than a few minutes. Nevermind what tea might taste like in such a vessel. But I wasn’t about serving a cuppa back then.

I was more impressed by the historic and cultural importance of tea around the world. And yet, it was something we almost took for granted. We sip without a thought. Neatly clipped and groomed in little flow-through bags, tea had become functional. Like the beauty and craftsmanship of the sewer lid, is sometimes almost invisible. We so often ignore the art behind the functional elements of daily life.

Sitting On Tea

Fast forward a few decades.

I was delighted when I first saw The Tea Bench at the World Tea Expo ‘08. It was in an open, unadorned booth with a small sign. We could sit on tea. And by my personal definition, this was Art. Tea has come more important to me. And seeing it in a new form is more meaningful than it would have been in the past.

Ito En’s Green Tea Bench.

The Green Bench Is Made Of Green Tea! Recycled tea. It is one of the products made from the spent leaves processed by Ito En for their ready-to-drink bottled teas. The leaf by-products of processing high quality tea can be turned into a resin which coats a structural core.

Design is an art - putting the elements together in a meaningful way is the talent. The magic. And using the last bit of the leaf to create something of beauty and function seems to me to be part of the spirit of tea.

Ito En is creating many uses for tea leaf byproducts. They’re turning it into boards and paper products and the resin can be found in ball point pens to cups and soap dishes.

When I had an opportunity to meet Rona Tison at the Fancy Food Show in January, the bench was there. We sat and talked tea and sipped as we relaxed on The Bench. I asked her how we can purchase these amazing sculptures for our own gardens. But it seems that this product is not quite ready for prime time. The ball point pens, however, were our take-aways. I cherish The Pen but I still want The Bench. In my way of thinking, both are art. And both seem to speak for the enduring spirit of tea.

(A short YouTube video of The Bench can be seen by clicking the image to the right.)

So, here’s what I’m trying to say . . .

Great beauty and enduring art is sometimes found in the most unexpected ways. Artists have the opportunity and the luxury to create surprises with the ordinary elements of daily life. What we step on without seeing. What we sit on without appreciating. What we drink without considering the intricacies of the flavor or the process by which it came to us.

We tea lovers are artists with our tea. We celebrate it and elevate it in public awareness. We develop techniques to enhance the leaf. We create techniques to blend and serve. We cherish the leaf so much that we infuse our leaves multiple times until the flavor and nutritional elements are gone. And we can also use the metamorphosis of the leaf itself to generate more beauty.

I’m saving a place for a green tea bench -

Next to the teapot!

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As mentioned in my previous blog, I had the opportunity to cavort with The Spirit of Tea in January. And Tea seems to share my love of love The City By The Bay. There’s now a book about it.

“The Way To Tea: Your Adventure Guide To San Francisco Tea Culture” is a beautiful experience of tea in San Francisco. Author and Photographer, Jennifer Sauer, captures the spirit of tea elegantly and Norwood Pratt adds the forward and his charming authority to a true tea collectible.

You see the name dropping!

NASFT’s Fancy Food Show: A Thriving Specialty Food Marketplace

We all gathered for the West Coast’s annual Fancy Food Show. It has become an opportunity for those of us who hear the sweet song of Camellia Sinensis find concert there. And of the 1,500 booths representing every foodie category (except, perhaps, fresh produce) tea has found it’s way into an amazing variety of products. We’re HOT now, you know. Therefore, the essence of tea is finding itself incorporated into an increasing number of other food items. A small trace of tea extract can be translated into eye-popping banner ads. There were about a hundred booths with some kind of tea mention. But the tea people tended to congregate at the booths displaying trays of the dry leaf and seaming pots of the elegant liquor. You can taste your way around the world in many food categories as you walk the floor of the FFS. But in a booth like Rishi Tea, you can taste your way around the world while standing still, chatting with Benjamin Harrison and Joshua Kaiser.

More name dropping.

We who have been to the World Tea Expo are familiar with tea displays like theirs. But the other Foodies, new to tea, still experienced the Wow Factor - being able to see and touch so many kinds of dry leaf and then to sample some of the premium brews. Even with the exposure to the cavernous environment of Moscone Center and amid the heavy aroma of the hundreds of other prepared foods in the room, you can still smell the fragile bouquet of artisan tea. Specialty teas.

There were a great many tea booths displaying their products in a variety of creative and enticing ways. I think I will craft a list for one of my blogs to demonstrate the wonderful variety representing our industry. And what happens when so many tea people find themselves in the same city?

They Party!

Specialty Tea Institute Networking Reception

This is another aspect of Art & Spirit of Tea which deserves an entire article. But I’ll share this one fragment as a closing to this rambling. STI hosted a lovely gathering in conjunction with their certification class schedule, conveniently coordinated with the Fancy Food Show. Closing a day of tea and an evening of wine, Norwood offered a kind of benediction. He shared a message of hope against the concerns of this economy. Our industry, tea, is ancient and new. We have survived much worse, many times. “Everything old is new again. . .” he offered. “Tea brings us together as a family.”

That it does.

We cavorted with Spirit of Tea in San Francisco. Tea likes to have a good time.

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 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On January 18th, I was one of the first attendees through the door into the Fancy Food Show at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. Among the thousand-plus vendors were about a hundred booths featuring tea or tea infused foods. I tasted enthusiastically for two days, discovering new products and re-visiting old favorites.

Added to the food show was the luxury of tea at Samovar just above Moscone Center in Yerba Buena Gardens. I can’t think of many things finer than sharing an 12-year aged oolong with good friends while sitting outside on a sunny day in The City.

But wait . . .

There was also afternoon tea at the new Crown & Crumpet in Ghiradelli Square with the newly forming Western Tea Business Association. Along with the business, we shared more wonderful tea and tea talk as we watched the sun set behind the Golden Gate Bridge. Owners, Christopher and Amy Dean, filled us with elegant trays of treats and offerings from an extensive tea menu.

And if that wasn’t enough. . .

The Specialty Tea Institute coordinated a tea networking reception and their Level 3 Oolong class with the weekend. This was the class I had been anticipating after taking some of the other Level 3’s. And it was better than I could have imagined. Fifteen wonderful teas in one amazing day. So you might assume that all this would be enough of the brew.

But no . . .

How could we leave without a stop in Chinatown and 4 tearooms in as many blocks. All unique and filled with canisters of lovely teas. Red Blossom stayed open a bit late for some of the STI Level 3′ers who staggered out of an 8 hour class, not ready for it to end.

This was a memorable 3-day tea experience. Not like traveling to the international estates but very satisfying to enjoy the abundance, quality and variety which becomes available when a community of tea lovers gather.

The opposite extreme came the next weekend.

January 24, 2009

On Saturday I flew into Oklahoma City. The few tearooms were closed both Sunday and Monday but we found a Chinese restaurant that offered several lovely teas served perfectly. We discussed the frustration of living in a part of the country where the choices were more limited than San Francisco. But as I looked around the crowded restaurant, I spotted the little cast iron teapots on most of the tables. Patrons were cradling the little cups to warm their hands, breathing in the aroma like connoisseurs. It was in the 20’s outside. Very cold. Getting colder. I heard the warnings about an approaching ice storm. But as a mountain girl, I wasn’t overly concerned.

On Monday I made my way to the airport. Mine was the last flight that boarded but couldn’t take off. The ice ceiling was too high and the runway too slick.

This is where the opposite extreme becomes amusing (sort of).

We were shuttled to a hotel for stranded passengers. A warm room, bed, food and we could wait out the storm in safety and comfort. We even had Internet service. But no tea. Not just no gourmet tea. There wasn’t a teabag in the entire hotel. The very nice lady at the front desk searched through the drawers of the office. Nothing. Two days of withdrawal. There was iced sweet-tea but as the temps dipped down into the single digits, that lacked appeal.

So, what’s the message? Is the spirit of tea less strong in Oklahoma?

That’s not the conclusion I came to. In fact, there seemed to be a thirst for tea information. I remembered the other patrons holding their teacups in the Chinese restaurant. And the word quickly spread throughout the hotel that there I couldn’t have tea. We stranded passengers got to know each other during the two days of waiting out the storm. They asked about tea. Cattle breeders preparing for their own convention had questions about tea. A group of new recruits for the National Guard were also sharing our situation during the storm. Conversations began with, “You’re the tea lady? So, can I ask you. . .” or “Is all that talk about tea being healthy really true?” and “Someone told me that green tea tastes like spinach.” “Have you seen the commercial where the guy picks the tea leaf?”

I felt the Spirit of Tea living in these first tentative questions from people who were far from the plantations and from the pockets of tea enthusiasts which have coalesced in cities like San Francisco. While it is thrilling to gather in the company of renowned tea educators, it is also exciting to be part of a new appreciation for our brew. An infancy. An opportunity.

I’ve come to believe that the Spirit of Tea lives patiently in that first question - “What’s so special about tea?” It is a question filled with opportunity inspiring those of us who love the leaf to engage. Experiences like the San Francisco gathering of tea-infused-souls have a feeling of family. And it might seem as if the questions are different. Or is that original question still fresh, cup by cup?

We warm our hands around a white china tea bowl or mug and let the vapors fill our heads. We feel better.

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In a recent article about the growing popularity of premium tea, it was said that tea is becoming a fashion accessory. I thought I felt a cough and sputter from the Spirit of Tea. But I have that tendency, to personify and romanticize tea. And my own particular version of tea snobbery imagines that camellia sinensis wants to be known as more than a trendy fashion statement. I’m drawn to the photographs of plantations covering hillsides under a protective cover of light fog and the legends of monks and masters who have devoted their lives to the celebration of tea.

I get carried away. It may be my Native American heritage that leads me to seek out a spiritual essence in all living things. But there are many different cultures around the world with mythology that personifies plants and animals to explain the way our welfare is bound together. I may want Tea to be something pure and innocent. But Tea might not mind being fashionable.

There is a camellia japonica grove in the wooded area of my back garden. My husband’s grandmother designed and planted this area under the native California redwoods and sequoias to include many distinctively non-natives. I plan to introduce the tea producing cousin, camellia sinensis, to the grove even though we don’t have the tropical climate to produce a proper cuppa. It’s the pure and innocent spirit of tea that I intend to honor. Will this also become a new fad?

I Get Carried Away

I was walking the dog through the camellias in the rain that was washing away the last of the Christmas snow. The blossoms are already forming, undeterred by the hard frosts that covered the walks in ice thick enough to skate on. The dog took shelter under the canopy in the grove and delighted in one of his favorite seasonal beverages. He held his head back and let the drops fall from the leaves into his mouth. I imagined him standing under the camellia we will plant here, reaching up for the liquor that snow will draw from the living leaf. I visualize my own visit a tea plantation; I hope to stand in the rain under an ancient tea tree with my mouth open.

It’s over the top romantic.  The Spirit of Tea snickers at my extremes.  Tea must have a sense of humor.

If the spiritual roots of beloved Camellia Sinensis find amusement in my romantic musings or in becoming a trend setter, it may be because Tea has endured so many trends and fashionable statements over thousands of years. It has maintained grace and elegance in the face of all that we humans have imposed.

As we change our calendars and entertain visions for a new year, we might also look for guidance and messages from The Spirit of Tea. Let us shed prejudice - like my knee-jerk reaction to the emerging fashion of tea. There is no reason that the spiritual nature of tea cannot enter our lives simultaneously through our hearts and our pocketbooks.

This is a new year of possibilities. Perhaps we can renew a commitment to our personal health and to the health of our world - one cup at a time - in The Spirit of Tea.

It could become a very popular thing to do.

I think Tea would smile.

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