It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment I realized I love tea, but I do remember the first time it genuinely interested me. The summer I turned 12, my family and I traveled to China. While this trip sparks many memories (during the two weeks we were there I held a baby panda and got lost on the Great Wall) I most vividly recall drinking tea outside of the Forbidden City. During the tea ceremony a woman dressed in a floral gown held her palm out and displayed what looked like a ball of wadded grass. I watched as she placed the ball into a glass teapot, perplexed, wondering what could possibly be so special about a grass sphere and wishing we were still feeding koi fish inside the Forbidden City instead of sitting and listening to people talk about tea. Within minutes, however, the ball unraveled, blossoming into an array of colors; greens, yellows, pinks, and purples danced inside the transparent teapot, delicately moving as the hot water coaxed them to bloom. The woman smiled and poured what had become a pale green liquid into each of our cups, and from the moment I first sipped the concoction, I was captivated.
I later learned that what I drank outside of the Forbidden City that day was what’s called a blooming green tea. Two summers ago, a tea shop called The Cultured Cup in Addison, TX hired me to work for them, and one day while I was restocking shelves of tea tins I came across one labeled “blooming flower”. Upon opening the tin a delicate floral aroma met my senses as I gazed upon dozens of individually wrapped tea balls. Ecstatic in the face my discovery, I ran into the back room of the tea shop and my boss explained that blooming flower is a particularly special tea, handcrafted from individual flower blossoms and wrapped in carefully selected tea leaves. We brewed ourselves a pot, and as I sipped, the delicate floral flavors danced on my tongue and seemed to transport me back to China.
Working for The Cultured Cup was a dream job for a tea lover, and I relished every moment spent learning more about my favorite beverage and becoming a full fledged tea addict. I learned about the stories behind the teas we sold, teas like Big Red Robe and Noble Concubine. Big Red Robe gained its name after a sick monk brewed the ancient plant’s leaves, making himself a warm and reviving cup of tea. The monk, who had been traveling up a mountain to take an important government exam, credited the tea for his receiving the highest score on the test, for which he was awarded a silk red robe. On his hike back down the mountain, the monk allegedly wrapped the robe around the tea plant to commemorate its healing properties. Noble Concubine, on the other hand, was named for a Ming Dynasty emperor’s favorite mistress. The emperor, who was forced to execute his mistress when his wife became jealous, never forgave himself for her death, and with a broken heart planted a tea tree in her honor. These stories resonate with me, and every time I drink one of these teas I am reminded of their rich history and cultural significance.
While there are many reasons to love tea – from the plethora of health benefits, to the caffeine boost, to the versatility of flavor – these stories have informed my tea obsession the most. Tea is more than a beverage. With every cup I brew, I am reminded of the personal, historical, and cultural stories that teas carry with them. For me, drinking tea is more than the stimulation of taste buds, more than a caffeine boost, and more than a drink to accompany my morning meals. Drinking tea is more than just a physical experience. It’s a spiritual one.