the song of tea

File:Die Euphonie in Beethovens „Neunter".jpg
Zoro Mettini | Die Euphonie in Beethovens "Neunter"

 

 

Song of Tea

by Lu Tung

The first cup moistens the throat;
The second shatters all feelings of solitude;
The third cup purifies the digestion,
re-opening the five thousand volumes I’ve studied
and bringing them to mind afresh;
The fourth induces perspiration,
evaporating all of life’s trials and tribulations;
With the fifth cup, the body sharpens, crisp;
The sixth cup is the first step on the road to enlightenment;
And the seventh cup sits steaming —
it needn’t be drunk, as one is lifted to the abode of the immortals.




as written previously in my posts #1 and #2 tea can inspire a lot of things in people. poetry, philosophy, a feeling of company... 

however if one wants to hear - you yourself need to shut up first. 

it is vital to first take a back seat in the experience and take your ego out of it. understand what the tea needs. let the tea guide you rather than brewing it how you would like it to behave.
there are general guidelines of how a tea should be brewed. e.g. puerh should be brewed with boiling hot water. only with boiling you will get the most out of it. if its not good at boiling, it might not be good tea. even if you might prefer your puerh at a lower temperature it is important to see what it does when brewed right and then appreciate what it brings to the table.

learn to listen - and with time it won't just speak but sing to you.

 

 

 

 

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 Image: Zoro Mettini, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

 

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