the art of drinking tea 喝茶的藝術

communal & infinite ♾️ 永恆與共享

Tea has been deeply embedded in my life since childhood. In my pre-teen years, it was yumcha (tea with dimsum) with my grandparents and their friends while I spent most of my holidays in Hong Kong. In my teenage years, it was my endless purchases of bubble teas in Taipei. And in the last couple of years, I’ve started curating my own tea collection by buying from local shops around Hong Kong and also from all over the world when I travel: Berlin. Tokyo. Marrakech. Chiang Mai….

What I really like about tea is its communal & infinite aspect. As tea is often brewed in a pot and shared by pouring into little cups, it celebrates sharing and community before even taking a sip. From a young age, I was taught to be the person who offers tea at the dimsum table. The beauty of tea is that you keep pouring from a pot, and after filling everyone’s cup, you request more water once the pot is empty, and another pot of tea is being brewed. You can do this repeatedly, again and again, for hours, using the exact same tea leaves. How infinite it is.

Even when drinking tea alone, with the ingrained memory of tea being involved with offering and shared with other people, I feel a fuzzy warmth inside me. It’s a hug within that reminds me about my grandparents, my culture, and all the people before me who sat together and drank tea.

Tea I've made in the last couple of weeks / days 💖

Soon I developed a snobbiness towards tea. I enjoy drinking loose-leaf tea much more than out of a tea bag as I’ve learned that most tea bags are made with grounded tea — typically the tea that can’t hold up a full-leaf shape gets put into a tea bag. I started enjoying seeing leaves unfold themselves and release flavor, aroma, and color over time while brewing.

I’ve also learned the difference between white, green, oolong, red, and black tea. Some are fermented. Some aren’t. Some are roasted. Some aren’t. Some are better aged. Some aren’t. It’s fun to know the techniques involved in harvesting, and prepping it by the team farmers, before it’s consumable. But in the end, the result is still a tea leaf. But based on how it’s dried, fermented, kept, stored… it tastes different after you boil some hot water and pour over it.

Speaking of pouring water… I find that the entire process of making tea involves quite a bit of attention and focus. Though it’s quite a simple three-step activity — boil, pour, brew — with the flexible timing each step can take, I get easily distracted. I remember multiple occasions where I ended up with over-brewed tea because I forgot to take the leaves out after an extended amount of time, or I ended up with no tea at all as I simply forgot to pour the water over the tea leaves after it’s boiled — for either case, usually, I remember only when I feel thirsty, realizing the tea is now too bitter, or nonexistent 😂. To flow with the time it takes to make tea, not get completely distracted, and not feel completely bored while waiting for water to boil or tea to brew, is a subtle piece of art.

Needless to say, I am obsessed with tea. The desire to share my appreciation towards tea transformed from making my own little tea bags with loose leaves to gift friends, to now setting up a physical tea house in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. So if you’re in town, come join me for a cup of tea. I can’t wait to share more with you.

從小到大，茶在我生活中已是一個不可或缺的一部分。從童年在每個假期與外公外婆喝港式飲茶開始，到青少年在台北的街頭喝著各式各樣的茶類手搖杯，到近幾年在香港的不同茶莊品茶、買茶，甚至在各個城市旅遊的時後也會特地去試茶以及買茶當作紀念品——我也漸漸建立起一個小小的收藏櫃，滿滿的都是茶。

我最喜歡喝茶的地方在於它本質是一個共享性的活動。因為一般茶的喝法是先用一個茶壺去泡茶，再去斟到小杯子裡共同享用，在還沒喝第一口的時候都已經要先與桌邊的同好共享了，是個很溫暖的感覺。從小我就被訓練在港式飲茶的場合要扮演斟茶的角色，所以對於這個步驟非常的熟悉。而每當茶斟完了，只要請餐廳伙計再加熱水，馬上又有一壺茶了。這也是我第二個喜歡茶的理由，有種永恆的感覺，同一壺茶可以喝一整個下午，重新泡好幾次茶，喝也喝不完。

即便是一個人喝茶，潛意識裡早已把「茶」和「與人共享」劃上等號，每喝一口都覺得倍感溫暖，總是讓我想起外公、外婆，以及上千年的茶文化的傳承——茶也令人懷舊。

自己泡的茶、瑜伽教室提供的茶、旅遊時也在喝茶

越喝越多茶，我對於茶的要求也越來越高了。逐漸我開始遠離茶包，開始買茶葉，只喝看得到的茶葉泡出來的茶。因為透過品茶也學到一般的茶包裡都是渣渣，不用幾秒所有的氣味都泡出來了，但用看得見的茶葉泡茶的話，總是能在反覆泡茶過程中觀察到茶葉的大小、顏色、味道的轉換，也是別有一番風趣。

我也學到白茶、綠茶、烏龍茶、紅茶、黑茶的不同，有哪些是發酵過的、哪些只是日曬的、哪些要經過翻炒、哪些需要放幾年再喝。茶農們花很多心思去研發不同的製茶技術，才把茶葉送到消費者的手裡，但我覺得很奇特的是，茶葉再怎麼經過製造的過程，到頭來都還是茶葉，但卻因一些小小的製作不同，在用熱水沖過去之後，流出來的味道都不同！

說到沖熱水，整個泡茶的過程其實也是很講求專注力的。雖然是一個簡單到不行的過程，只有煮水、沖熱水、泡茶三個步驟，但因為每個步驟所需的時間很彈性，我經常中途分心，跑去做其他的事情，等到口渴的時候才想起，啊，我剛剛在泡茶～不是泡出來的茶變得濃到不行（忘了把茶葉拿出來），就是什麼茶都沒泡（水煮好了就忘了去泡茶）。要留意泡茶時所需要的彈性的時間，過程中不要過於分心，也不要感到無聊，也是一門小小的藝術呢。

現在應該可以看出來，我是有多麽熱愛茶吧！從幾年前我就開始從我的收藏櫃裡拿出不同的茶葉包成小小的分裝包給朋友，而現今決定在香港尖沙咀開一間「慢活茶室」和人分享我對於茶的愛好。現在茶室也差不多成形了，如果你在香港的話，不妨上來坐坐，讓我再和你細細分享～