Having tea by the roaring stove on a chilly morning with a book of stories.
This book, Wisdom of the Elders, contains stories from indigenous cultures that relate to how we treat the earth, our home. Some of these tales speak of the sacred purposes and characteristics of plants. It's a good reminder that the tea plant and the other ingredients used to make the teas are all sacred and powerful in their own way.
Tea of course being one of the most loved plants in the world. Camillia Sinensis, in it's dried processed form tea, is one of the most used and travelled plants on the planet. It is enjoyed by cultures all around the world, each with their own methods, etiquette, and techniques of using the plant to brew into a drink. It's an easy to take tea for granted, we simply order it or pick it up from the shop. But there is a rich, turbulent, and complex history of how it managed to wheedle it's way into global cultures. That's a story I won't get into now, maybe I'll touch on in future posts. We are lucky to have tea as such an accessible product, in so many variations and quality. So I want to take notice here of the abundant and wonderful plant that is Tea. To remind us to be grateful for having it in our lives and for the comfort that it brings us every day.
I raise my cup in toast to Tea!