In Tibet, there is actually a length of distance called a “cup of tea” defined as the length that one can walk with a cup of hot tea in one’s hand before it cools down sufficiently to drink. 

Throughout the world tea is an essential aspect of everyday life.Already a popular drink in China by the time of Confucius (500 BCE), tea grew in cultural significance after the publication of Ch’a Ching  (The Book of Tea ) by the eighth century scholar Lu Yu. Eight hundred years later, tea-master Sen Rikyu played a similar role in Japan by developing the tea ceremony and a tea tradition of wabi-cha, that emphasized simplicity.

One of the most interesting aspects of world tea-culture is its focus on the applied arts. According to San Francisco tea-maven James Norwood Pratt, author of New Tea Lovers Treasury, these applied arts, involve “not just what you behold but what you hold” and are valuable because they teach us an “intimacy with objects” that can help to both focus our attention and deepen our sensual appreciation. 

Cultivated attention is essential to a deep appreciation of tea. Jennifer Leigh Sauer, in The Way to Tea, a local guide to San Francisco tea culture, writes that “the Chinese symbol for drinking tea is three mouths, reminding us that one tastes tea in three steps: first, paying attention to the tip of the tongue to judge sweetness; then to the middle of the tongue for tartness; and finally to the back of the tongue for bitterness.”  Fine tea also has a “return flavor” which is experienced a half minute or so after sipping when the active but subtle elements in the tea have had time to become perceptible as taste. 

According to Winnie Yu, proprieter of Teance in Berkeley, “there is more than we know about tea than we think we know.” Winnie’s own appreciation of tea often feels to her “like a cellular memory”. When she drinks tea she feels she can look “behind her shoulder” at thousands of years of tea tradition. Yet she insists that the real value of tea culture is its practical value.  

“The object of learning about tea” says Winnie, “is to learn to adapt it easily into our contemporary needs as a people. We all have the same needs. Tea heightens our creativity and calms our spirit.”

Much of the “calming influence” of preparing and enjoying a cup of tea comes from its capacity to help us suspend the incessant motion of our minds and focus our attention on the moment. Another benefit of tea-drinking is the cultivation of humility.The art, say tea-masters, is in learning to prepare oneself for tea, rather than vica versa.

By steeping ourselves gently and attentively in the moment we deepen our appreciation of life. Drinking tea is surely beneficial to the body, but its most nourishing quality may be the opportunity it offers us to cultivate a daily ritual of sensual attention.