Michael Santayana

11-2012

Tea, the Light-Hearted drink

No matter how busy you are or stressed out you get, make sure you take a few minutes to stop, sit down and settle down so you can think and calm down. The finest way to do this is to make friends with a very old drink that has very old traditions that come with it. The drink is tea. Before beer or Coca Cola, a long time ago, Americans drank great amounts of tea. What is tea? How did we get tea? Why do we drink Tea? 

Now there are all sorts of tea; Arabic tea, British tea, jasmine herbal tea, oolong green tea, white tea, black tea, gold tea, all the colors of the rainbow tae, etc. No matter what kind of tea it is, drinking tea is healthy both mentally and physically. It is almost impossible to be depressed when you are drinking tea. Drinking tea will help your attitude.

What is tea? Tea is a leaf that grows on bushes that are evergreen and grow about 13 feet tall. Some tea plants, if you leave them alone will grow 50 feet. In China and most places, they are not full-grown, they are cut as high as your waist and kept that short because it is easier to reach the leaves. They tolerate shade well and like moist but well drained soils.  It takes three years for a new plant to have enough leaves that you can start picking them to make tea. People chop up the leaves; boil them in water, and then drink the water. Tea is not very creative as far as inventions go. Well, tea has a permanent place because it is as old as dirt. I mean that it will never grow old and we will always have tea. It is a classic; it never goes out of style. Yeah, I know Chinese products are not supposed to last this long but tea is the exception.

            How did we get tea? Tea is so old that even in China, where it started, no one knows where it came from. The Dutch brought tea to England in 1644 but the  Portuguese were the first to bring tea to Europe in the 1550’s. They brought it on ships that were used for trading things with the Far East. However, tea never caught on until the coolest girl in Europe started drinking it. When the queen of England got involved, everybody cool started drinking tea. She set the trends and drinking tea became the new hot trend.

Why do we drink Tea? People drank tea because they liked the taste. In ancient China, before drank tea for pleasure, people thought it was a medicine. Later tea became popular in Japan in the 9^th century and in Russia, Europe and the Middle-East mostly for its taste. All the old things come back because scientists are now saying tea is really good for your health. Scientists are now discovering that it does everything from make you age more slowly to helping you not get cancer as well as heart disease.

Tea is important to our history. Have you heard about the Boston Tea Party? They drank so much tea, and the party was so crazy, they literally tried to turn the ocean into tea, and that is why we do not drink tea anymore, because it is too salty. What really happened is that they were not drinking tea. They were drinking something else, probably whiskey and ale and they threw all the tea from the ships into the ocean. The rebels did something that everyone thought was a prerevolutionary testimony. The “Rebels” probably do not remember what they did the day before, because they were so drunk.

Were these actions logical? To dress up as Indians, drink a lot of whisky and throw tea in to the ocean does not seem like a well thought out plan but somehow it worked get everyone aware of the evils. Dressing up as Indians was the alibi to say it was not them but it did not work. The whisky probably helped them be braver and the real point of the whole thing was to protest British taxes on tea with no American representation. People think America wanted to be detached but at that time, a lot of Americans just wanted to send people to parliament. They would shout “no taxation without representation”. The tea had big taxes on it so it went for a swim. The bad news is the British closed Boston harbor and all for the basis that of the fight over taxes on tea. Tea is a big part of our history in America.

How can I drink tea the best possible way? One key trait of the ideal tea guzzlers is high-class etiquette. The word Etiquette is French, but oddly enough has nothing to do with being French, because the art of etiquette is the ability to make all who surround you as comfortable as possible by showing the most respect. Always remember to say “please”, and so on, “may you pass the sugar”, “thank you”, and “you’re welcome”. You should pronounce words and speak to all people in a respectful way.

You also want a good posture when you drink tea or you will look like a slob. Right now, I want a at ease posture so I relaxed a little and as a result, I feel more calm. This is more potent then you think, since scientist today says that the brain is housed inside the body.  Thus, whatever position our body takes affects your brain. For instance, if I spread my legs out and take up the most amount of room, my brain produces more of a chemical called testosterone and I become more confident and masculine. If I move my legs together and take up as little amount of space as possible, my brain reacts by making me feel less assertive. It is hard to feel depressed if you stand straight and smile but you can trigger a brain reaction that makes chemicals like a depressed person by simply slouching and hanging your head down.

That is why we have something called teatime. Teatime is best when you take your tea, put your feet up and just think a little. I suggest drinking in a group or party. This is called a tea party. In Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter has a Tea party and I think that is one of the most logical reasons he cannot be completely mad. At the party is the March Hare, the Dormouse and the Mad Hatter and Alice is there as well. There are many things related to tea that made clear. First, it is better than wine or at least it is good as needed.

            'Have some wine,' the March Hare said in an encouraging tone. 

            Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea.

            I don't see any wine,' she remarked.' There isn't any,' said the March Hare.”

In addition, the Mad Hatter believed time had stopped exactly at teatime so that it was always teatime. I would love for time to stop on such an important hour on ourselves. This is a book worth studying from the point of view of tea, for it reference tea about 40 times.

  

Also, never have a full plate of potatoes or any other ordinary food laying around at a tea party. The best foods for tea parties should be banana bread, blueberry bread, lemon buttermilk scones, lavender scones, pumpkin scones, fruit pizza, stuffed roasted strawberries, balsamic strawberries, 20-layer crepe cake, meringue cream torte, gingerbread tea loaf, banbury tea tarts, English trifle, Russian teacakes, and my favorite; ginger snap cookies.

            Tea is also an intellectual moment where you sit down and relax a bit accompanied by a good book to read aloud to the other guests. Tea will taste better with a good piece of literature. The best is a book of poetry that leaves a good feeling on your ear just as the tea does to your tongue. If we bring back being slow enough to sit for tea, people will find time for reading good things to each other. Classy music in the background is also a good idea for the event. Enjoy poetry with your cup of tea and both will leave a good flavor in your mouth. If you have good poetry and music to go with your good tea you will be a good host for your visiting parasites.

            Never completely mathamitize anything especially something as organic as a tea party.  So, do not have a schedule. Schedule would be a major hitch. Schedules would boring, nosey and strict and make too much like work at your party. A tea party should have a divine free spirit that is free from clocks and from math so the whole party can have a wild spirit and casual mood. The most you can do is that if you have appointment, like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, is keep a watch so you won’t be late.

            Singing is fun but can get quite awkward quite fast and you will soon be in a creepy moment when you awkwardly stand, walk and talk unconfidently. Then there is an awkward silence with a pause long enough that you could recite your favorite short poem. So keep an eye on the singing. Teatime does not seem like a good time to sing. If someone has a beautiful voice, maybe they can sing to entertain the party but what you do not want is where everyone thinks it is karaoke time.

In addition, you should talk intelligent on intellectual subjects. You should go ahead and talk about things like books and such. I once wanted to start a media club back in my old school where we sat around all day and harshly criticized movies, music, shows, and books. My plan was to never leave any important piece of artwork out of the conversation and your tea party should do the same. Yet at the same time be at peace with the artist, do not just demonize all the arts but also remember that we have no perfect art piece even if it is the best of the best.

            The real secret to the tea party is that it is just an excuse to get together with other people instead of watching TV, playing video games or texting. You pour out some tea and sit and look at each other and if you are not alert you might make friends with real people instead of electronics.

Tea time to me is time to think and listen and be at peace. It could be part of the way we solve some of the problems in the world. Imagine if everyone stopped what they were running around doing all day to sit and talk and reflect.

In Japan people drink tea as part of a religious ritual. It is a very special ceremony that is very full of meaning to them. There is something to this. Even if you are alone, you can use a tea ceremony to still your mind and be peaceful. Here are my ideas for you to consider in making your own tea ceremony.  First of all, turn off your cell phone, radio and TV, turn off your environment. Then while you boil the water and prepare the cup, think peaceful thoughts. Find a place to sit where you will not be troubled. This is especially tricky if you have a younger brother.

No matter how busy you are or stressed out you get, when you take a few minutes to bring to a halt, sit down and relax to drink tea. You will find that you can think and calm down. Find a way to make tea your friend and soon you will find that you can become your own friend and be more at stillness with this crazy, wild world.