What We Do
As I mentioned in the general About section, I used to do tea things as a sort of business. I would teach classes, host structured tastings, and even sell some teas and wares.
These days, I’m finally coming back around to having a personal relationship with tea, and sharing that relationship with others in a personal way.
For those of you who have come to my classes, you’ll want to go into this with the understanding it’s a different experience! Rather than a teacher sharing information, this is friends sharing tea.
The word “ceremony” is often bandied about with reference to the act of tea, but that’s not really what happens here.
I studied chadō, the Japanese Tea Ceremony, for several years (basically to the equivalent of a kindergarten or first-grade level of proficiency). And, while I don’t host chaji or chakai in the traditional sense, the foundational ideas, feelings, and philosophy underlying chadō/chanoyu still deeply inform my relationship with tea, and with the world.
Usually, I brew in what could be described as the 功夫茶1 (gōngfū chá — loosely, “tea skill born of effort & practice”) tradition. (Though, alas, with less of the actual gōngfū than some with whom I’ve had the pleasure to drink. : )
This style is sometimes wryly called “老人茶” (lǎorén chá, or “old man tea”). It’s a slow practice that takes a lifetime to master: a good occupation for retired people like myself.
Where We Do It
We have two main tea areas in our home: a winter tea room, indoors, by our fireplace on the ground floor; and an outdoor, summer tea deck, upstairs, overlooking our yard.
Both are very lovely places to spend time, and both will likely bring you into contact with The Cats, so if you have a severe allergy, please bear that in mind. : )
Unfortunately, neither location is especially wheelchair accessible at this time. We hope to improve access if possible, but — in the meantime — we can bring the tea to you.
- If you’re interested in terminology, history, and current practice around gōngfū chá, Lawrence Zhang has written some wonderful stuff, including A Quintessential Invention: Genesis of a Cultural Orthodoxy in East Asian Tea Appreciation, with Loretta Kim; as well as A Foreign Infusion: The Forgotten Legacy of Japanese Chadō on Modern Chinese Tea Arts. (As of this writing, the former is available free online.)
His blog, marshaln.com, also contains a wealth of information, in English, on this and other topics related to tea. ↩︎