There’s much more to tea than leaves steeped in hot water.
There’s a culture that surrounds tea, which includes everything from preparation to taste, and how to serve it.
Jeff Fuchs, a world-renowned tea expert, said to understand what tea culture is, one must start from the basics of what tea is.
“Tea culture, I think, is understanding what tea means to those who have a tradition with it, and then adapting, choosing and making tea something,” he said.
Fuchs said he thinks that the “culture” part of tea culture changes with the people who consume the tea.
Rebecca Cragg, president of Camellia Teas of Ottawa, said each of her guests has a different interest and focus in teas, which motivates her to keep learning about tea.
“I could spend a lifetime, just floating on the surface of all that this rich, ancient tradition has to offer,” she said.
“At the same time it gives me a focus to life, trains the mind, body and soul in so many areas that have application in our daily life.”
Camellia Teas provides tea culture education and experiences to their guests by appointment, Cragg said.
Fuchs said what makes tea important to him is the ways it has been offered and introduced to him over the years.
“The people, the settings and the tea itself all have been memorable . . . one has to sit, and it is something that brings people together – particularly in the Asian frame of tea reference. Tea is the ‘everyone drink’ while being something that can be an utterly solitary experience,” he said.
Fuchs said he has been living in Asia for ten years now. He visits tea hubs and families who grow, produce and consume the tea. He said that these visits help him see the connection people have with tea.
“ [Tea] has only served to re-emphasize the bonds that people have with this ancient friend,” he said.
Fuchs said he sources teas from some of the world’s oldest tea forests every year.
“Here amidst this part of the world, tea is no less than everything: medicine, economic provider, and treated like a deity, though it is still something utterly simple and accessible,” Fuchs said.
Opinions differ on what makes a perfect tea. Cragg said that freshness, purity and quality are the important factors. She said the perfect tea comes from a set of ancient Chinese criteria: outstanding tea, refined company, a beautiful space/place and a sense of art or poetry.
Fuchs said his perfect tea needs time, great water, high quality leaves, a thirst, and some good friends who “get” the tea thing.
Learning about tea culture can take a lot of time. Cragg said she had no idea what universe she had discovered when she first became interested in studying tea culture.
“Even in the first years of study, I was dazzled on so many levels by the world of tea culture in Japan. I have explored Chinese, Vietnamese and Taiwanese tea rituals as well as Sencha-Do [a Japanese tea tradition],” she said.
“There is still much, much for me to learn,” Cragg said.
Fuchs said a person could easily spend a lifetime learning about tea, its history, types, and the different styles of serving it.
“The world of tea is huge and rich, but the basics stay the same, and the palate should be challenged a bit by teas that are beyond what we in the West deem ‘good’,” he said.
Fuchs recommended drinking tea constantly. He said it’s important to find out where teas are actually coming from and stay away from flavoured teas when starting to drink tea.
“I think the crucial part is to start simple and keep it simple. One needs to start with the simple teas that are sourced, produced and sold in a traditional form and then expand from there rather than trying to find a tea that one simply likes.”
Cragg said the best place to start learning about tea culture is in Asia. However, if Asia is a bit too far to get to, she said there are outstanding tea stores and people in Ottawa that would be happy to help.
“Some great advice I received years ago from one of my tea mentors in Yunnan province was ‘don’t be impressed by price, let your mouth decide what a good tea is.’
