Pagoda Tea Poem
Fragrant leaves, delicate buds.
Admired by poets, loved by monks.
Crushed with white jade, filtered through red gauze.
Cauldron brewed to the color of gold, served in cups aswirl in bubbles.
Inviting the moon at night for company, facing alone the twilight before the sunrise.
Feeling energized in past or present, praise fully rinsing away drunkenness.
by famous Tang Dynasty poet Yuan Zhen
Tea Poem
Willow branches graze the grass,
As I sit in the shade drinking tea.
A note from a flute blows clearly,
Mingling with the sound of rain.
I could sit here alone forever,
And still I'd never feel lonely.
Anonymous poem inscribed on an
old Yi Hsing tea pot
The Way of Tea
A friend presented me
With tender leaves of Oolong tea,
For which I chose a kettle
Of ivory-mounted gold,
A mixing-bowl of snow-white earth.
With its clear bright froth and fragrance,
It was like the nectar of Immortals.
The first bowl washed the cobwebs from my mind -
The whole world seemed to sparkle.
A second cleansed my spirit
Like purifying showers of rain,
A third and I was one of the Immortals -
What need now for austerities
To purge our human sorrows?
Worldly people, by going in for wine,
Sadly deceive themselves.
For now I know the Way of Tea is real.
Chio Jen (Tang Dynasty)
Check out my organic tea microbusiness, Jade Heart Tea Co. where you can find the highest quality Chinese and Taiwanese organic teas, as well as specifically formulated herbal blends created by myself and my partner, Vincent Frascello.
To celebrate the 2023 New Lunar Year of the Yin Water Cat/Rabbit here is a tea drinking playlist I created to capture the essence of the year.
A time that will be imbued by the more calming and inward energy of Yin, the reflective, mysterious, primordial and healing nature of the element of Water and the gentle, sensitive, refined, artistic and attuned energy of the Cat/ Rabbit.
