Blog – What’s in a name?

BeingwithTea is now live.

Why BeingwithTea? 

A few hundred years ago, we in the West adopted tea and it has become a much cherished beverage with a special place in everyday life.

Though over time tea gradually became associated more with convenience than with the depth, craftsmanship, and ritual found in traditional pure leaf tea, we knew that tea was a perfect beverage when we needed to rest, chat about our troubles with a friend, or sip quietly by ourselves. We intuitively understood that tea is a calming and restorative beverage.

The name “BeingwithTea” celebrates this slowing down and coming together with tea. It reflects the idea that tea is not only something we drink, but something worth spending time with.

When preparing tea in the gong-fu style (which is utilised in our Tasting Sessions) – all our senses are engaged. What the senses tell us, beginning with the sight of the dry tea leaves, informs us of what the tea is about. The aroma, taste and texture, the feeling in the body produced by the tea, all helps us to understand the tea and even something of the landscape and craftmanship behind it.

In paying closer attention to tea, we also become more attentive to the natural world and to the nature of our own experience. Perhaps this is part of what tea has always offered: a quieter way of paying attention.