Many of us in tea community know Aaron Fisher as Wu De, founder of Global Tea Hut. I previously wrote about his book Tea Wisdom last year. This book is a bit different in that it relates more to the spiritual side of tea. Being a Global Tea Hut subscriber (and fangirl), I had a fairly good idea of what to expect. For that reason the Amazon reviewer who left a two star one liner of “very new agey” made me a bit sad. Did they even read the description of the book or its author?
The concept of this book was a bit different in that it puts the reader in the shoes of a theoretical tea apprentice. Each chapter is a different lesson on the philosophy of using tea as a spiritual medicine. Through a series of affirmations, legends, stories and experiences the student is taught about the tradition of tea that is practiced at Tea Sage Hut.
I usually highlight notes as I read on my Kindle. These are some of the quotes that I highlighted from this book.
“In Yunnan, the birthplace of Tea, all the aboriginal tribes believe they are descended from Tea; and at least one tribe I know of, the De’ang, believe that all life on earth is descended from Tea.”
“Don’t be a Tea snob. The world has enough of those. Share Tea spirit, healing people. When you make Tea medicinally, people leave a session transformed – they shift and heal.”
“If the door is alive enough to receive your anger, it is alive enough to receive your apology as well!”
I’ll be completely honest, tea is not always a spiritual thing for me. Sometimes it’s just a beverage that I enjoy consuming. However just as a bit of mindfulness can improve many aspects of our lives, it can also improve our relationship with tea. I do most of my reading on the crowded subway to work but found myself wishing that I had the time to sit down and quietly drink tea while taking in each chapter. I may just do a re-read so that I can do exactly that.
You can find out more about this book here.