O taste and see….Psalm 34:8a
“We’ve got lots of tea cups,” I said to Yining Lu, our Open Spirit volunteer from Harvard Divinity School. I pointed to my collection of mugs in the office living room.
“Those are way too big,” she said.
I was undeterred. “We’ve also got lots of smaller tea cups.” I leapt up, went into my office and came out with some dainty cups and saucers I had inherited from Evie McGuirk.
“Still too big,” Yining replied.
Yining and I were planning logistics for our upcoming “Way of Tea” gathering, at which her friend Xinye Shen would lead us in a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. The size of the gathering was dependent on how many appropriately-sized tea cups we had.
I tried one more time. “Oh, I get it. For our wedding we got a tea set that has much smaller cups, like the ones at a Chinese restaurant. I’ll bring those in.”
When the day arrived, I brought in the smallest cups I have. Xinye and Yining were already unpacking the tea sets Xinye had brought. As I pulled my cups out, we all laughed. They were three times the size.
I was perplexed. You know how much tea I drink—mugs and mugs every day. Why use a cup that only holds a few sips?
As the evening progressed, I began to understand. Xinye carefully described the ceremony, inviting someone from each table to warm the pot and the cups, scoop a precise amount of tea leaves into a small pot, fill the pot with water that was at the precise temperature.
The tea brewed for less than a minute. It was poured into a small glass pitcher—called the fairness pitcher, since it ensured that the first and the last cups poured would have the same flavor. From there, it was poured into five tiny cups and given to each of the participants. They held it for a moment, enjoying the aroma and the warmth, then tasted it.
As I sipped, I realized how different this is from how I usually drink tea. I drink tea to wake me up, to stay hydrated, to offer hospitality to a friend, to have something to do with my hands as we talk. Rarely do I slow down enough to savor the tea itself.
I am grateful for Xinyi and Yining’s invitation to appreciate tea as a gift in itself. I am also grateful for the invitation to do so in community, with care to ensure that everyone enjoys an equally delicious cup.
Slow me down, Holy One, so I may savor the gifts of your creation and the richness of our many cultures and communities. -Debbie Clark