If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.
—Japanese Proverb
Pictured here is a bowl of matcha and a sweet. The sweet contains anko (crushed adzuki beans) with way too much sugar. They commonly come with matcha. It's meant to balance the bitterness of the tea, but I find it too sweet and usually give it to someone around me.
Matcha is an amazing drink. It is made from powered green tea—the entire leaf ground up. It's supposedly the best green tea for your health, if you care about such things. The taste is bitter, yes, but also really really good. When I can afford to buy a package of it (matcha is quite expensive) I make and enjoy it every morning until it's gone. If you go to Japan, I recommend you try.
Tea ceremony is really interesting. I've participated in a few tea ceremonies. It's worth trying just for the experience if you get a chance. There is a lot of Zen baked into tea ceremony.
In reference to the quote I used at the beginning of this post, Okakura Kakuzo wrote:
In the common parlance we speak of the man ‘with no tea’ in him, when he is insusceptible to the seriocomic interests of the personal drama. Again we stigmatize the untamed aesthete who, regardless of the mundane tragedy, runs riot in the springtide of emancipated emotions, as one ‘with too much tea’ in him.”
Okakura was an interesting fellow. He lived in the US for some time in the 19th century. Spoke perfect English and published the book for which he is best known in English. In it he talks about the tea culture of Japan, tea ceremony, and philosophy in general. The book is public domain and free if you are interested. Here's a copy on Project Gutenberg.
Okakura again:
Tea...is a religion of the art of life.
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| Who is David? | |
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 | David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time. |