Saturday Morning Tea

Mar22

Officially, today is the third day of Spring. However, when I opened my window, a frigid blast of cold air flew in. The last remnants of winter are holding on tight. It feels like the weather will never turn warmer but I know that it always does. To coax it along, I’m sending a big invitation for Spring to settle in by sipping a cup of jasmine tea. The sweet fragrance warms my heart and brings feelings and images of an overflowing armful of flowers fresh from the garden.

All beings are flowers

Blooming

In a blooming universe.

-Soen Nakagawa

The tea leaves are plucked and processed as green tea in the springtime. Then they are stored to patiently wait for the jasmine to bloom. We are like the green tea leaves waiting for the air to warm and the flowers to bloom. Just as the jasmine flowers are about to bloom in the summertime, the flowers are picked during the day. That night the flowers will open and then be laid out with the green tea leaves which have been humidified to soften them. The leaves then absorb the scent of the flowers.

When I opened the bag, the aroma of jasmine softly greeted me. I steeped the leaves for 3 minutes in 180 degree F water. The liquor is sweet with a subtle jasmine fragrance and flavor. It feels smooth and silky on my tongue.

Oh, welcome Springtime!

My finished Mosaicon

Mar21

I recently put the finishing touches on my mosaicon, “The Way of Tea”, created in Laurie Mika’s workshop last weekend. I cut a couple of small tiles to fill in the small areas. For the very skinny areas, I poured various size seed beads and then filled the space with Judikins Diamond Glaze to glue them in place.

Here is a closeup of the glass vial I filled with green tea leaves. It’s one of my favorite China greens called Tian Mu Qing Ding. The hand rolled leaf is just beautiful. You can see my review on this tea here.

My friend Amy has also written about our wonderful workshop adventure here.

Saturday Morning Tea

Mar15

I’m up before sunrise this morning getting ready for a weekend workshop by mixed media mosaic artist, Laurie Mika. I’ve been gathering bits of this and that all week for the theme of my piece, “The Way of Tea”. I’m thinking of a green, brown, red and silver color palette. I have a small envelope of Matcha tea that I’m going to attempt to make a glaze with.

I’m sipping a cup of an unusual Assam tea from the Sewpur estate. Unusual in the respect that it’s a green tea instead of the full-bodied, rich black teas I’m accustomed to from this district in India. It’s not like a China or Japanese green because you can still detect the malty thick quality. The aroma is slightly vegetal and the flavor is strong yet smooth.

I look forward to sharing my mixed media mosaic adventures!

Saturday Morning Tea

Feb16

On this bright, cold late winter morning, I am slowly savoring a cup of Chinese green tea, Tian Mu Qing Ding, and daydreaming about a hauntingly beautiful, misty mountain far far away.

This tea is named after the mountain upon which it was grown and harvested, Mt. Tian Mu. Its tightly rolled leaf opens up and reveals a fresh spring green color after steeping. Tian Mu is also the name of the Chinese Goddess of Lightning. I wonder if the mountain was named after her because it was believed to be her home. I couldn’t find any more information on her aside from a couple of sentences and a print.

The liquor is a very pale straw color with a light, fresh vegetal aroma and taste. The vegetal quality of this tea is so mild that it would be another great choice for those trying green tea for the first time.

Saturday Morning Tea

Jan19

And precious the tear as that rain from the sky,

Which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea.

-Thomas Moore

I have been thinking about pearls lately and the wonder surrounding their creation. I invite you to join me in my thoughts for a moment. What starts out to be an intrusion, an irritation, is transformed into something beautiful. In meditating on the life of a pearl, we can use it as a metaphor in our own lives. In our day to day life, challenges arise and in the process of dealing with those challenges, we are transformed as well. In honor of my “pearl” musings, this morning I have chosen a pearl jasmine tea, Dragon Phoenix Pearl, for my cup of tea.

Steeped in 180 degree F water for 3 minutes, I watched in fascination as the little spheres unfurled themselves, reminding me of hermit crabs reaching their legs out of their shells. Gorgeous full green leaves are revealed as I remove the pearls from the water.

The journey of the tea pearls. After green tea processing, the leaves are laid out with blooming jasmine flowers so they will absorb their intoxicating scent. This process is repeated and then the leaves are steamed and hand rolled into little pearls. I deeply feel that the pale straw colored liquor in my cup has been steeped from little works of art in themselves.

The tea is so pale that you can see the wonderful texture inside of my tea bowl. This is one of the bowls I purchased at the Kaji Aso studio. The aroma is delicately floral and not overly perfumey. The taste is sweet jasmine, smooth and subtle.

I have not yet laid down a single bead for my January journal page but there is a lot of inner gestating going on. Being guided by my meditations on pearls, unfurling spiral shapes and turning 50 the other day, it will be called “The Journey to Myself”.